Research Round-up June 2024
- Veronica Speiser
- Jul 2, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 3, 2024
FTTP broadband subscribers to reach 1.12bn in top markets by 2030; Q1 24 - Modest growth in the UK broadband market returns, only just; UK telecoms sector news; government and Ofcom updates
Key publication of the month:
Analysis of Q1 2024 UK ISP metrics
In summary
Total Q1 2024 FTTH/P/B, FTTC, cable, FWA/satellite and DSL wholesale and retail connections saw a very slight increase during the quarter and stood at an estimated 28.90m from 28.86m q-o-q and similar to 28.89m in the previous year.
The fixed broadband retail market remained relatively static with ~38k net broadband subscriber additions compared to ~29k net additions in Q4 2023, and -65k at the close of Q1 2023.
We estimate that BT’s Consumer division (which includes business) saw an overall loss of ~66k subscribers; compared to Q4 2023 this represented around a 0.62% decrease in the retail segment, but saw strong growth in its FTTP base adding 258k FTTP connections to reach ~2.58m up 40% y-o-y.
Openreach’s FTTP connections increased by 397k q-o-q and reached 4.70m up from 4.30m and its average build rate reached 78k premises per week with a footprint of 13.81m premises.
VMO2’s FTTP fixed network deployment (primarily on behalf of nexfibre) passed 1m premises throughout the year.
Independent (or AltNet) providers also struggled with economic headwinds as they have slowed down their FTTP network rollouts to focus on subscriber take-up, and saw ~70k net additions down slightly from around ~80k additions in the previous quarter.
In May, CityFibre reported that its ‘customer connections now exceed 400,000, an increase of 77% year-on-year.’ Its network covered 3.6m premises with 3.3m being ready for service.
*BT Consumer includes EE and Plusnet subscribers, **Quarterly growth attributed to integration of Shell Energy Broadband subscriber base which was previously a wholesale client. Source: Point Topic estimates and company reports.
Read the complete article here.
Key June telecoms sector news
BT Group News
11 June – Openreach announced it had started work on its FTTP network build in Penistone, in the Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire where its network had already passed 22k premises.
12 June – Openreach announced it had started work on its FTTP network build in Whitby and Northallerton, North Yorkshire where its network had already passed 175k premises.
13 June – Openreach announced GEN056/24 changes in support of One Touch Switch go-live; The One Touch Switching Company announced a go-live date for One Touch Switch (OTS) of 12 September 2024. Openreach has shared with industry the changes we are making in support of OTS:
1. Removing Cancel Other on migration orders;2. Removing the 10 working day Minimum Lead Time (MLT) for migrations (to be replaced with new MLTs);3. Removing the 7-day rental liability charge for WLR standalone ceases; once this is removed, rental will be charged up to the termination date of the product.
13 June – Openreach update on closure of G.fast cabinets in UK FTTP areas.
20 June – BT Group and ServiceNow announced an expanded strategic relationship to improve customer and employee experiences. The multi-year agreement will extend ServiceNow service management capabilities to all BT Group units to drive savings, efficiency, and improved customer experiences. BT Group will also use ServiceNow Service Bridge for a seamless, automated connection between BT and their customers, and plans to pilot ServiceNow’s Now Assist for Telecom Service Management (TSM) to power generative AI capabilities for internal and customer-facing teams.
24 June – BT Group has implemented energy-saving ‘cell sleep’ technology across its EE mobile sites nationwide, following successful trials in each of the UK’s home nations. Technology puts certain carriers to sleep when capacity is not needed, using machine learning to predict quiet periods of demand. Roll-out follows successful completion of several trials, in each of the UK’s home nations with an Anticipated energy savings of up to 4.5m KWh per year across entire estate.
26 June – Openreach announced it had started work on its FTTP network build in Gatley, in the Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, where its network had already passed 77k premises.
26 June – GEN061/24 Openreach Annual Review 2024 published.
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) News
12 June – Virgin Media O2 delivered three new 4G masts to Uist in a single weekend as part of its commitment to the £1bn Shared Rural Network.
13 June – Connectivity infrastructure-as-a-service provider Freshwave will be deploying more than 20 outdoor small cells on behalf of Virgin Media O2 in busy areas of the city, including outside the Arndale Shopping Centre, Manchester Piccadilly Station and Piccadilly Gardens.
18 June – Virgin Media/nexfibre gigabit broadband now available to 25,000 more homes in Lowestoft for first time.
27 June – O2 introduced the “Ultimate Plan”, a new top tier mobile plan that offers the best of O2’s services and includes a range of benefits worth over £1,000 over the duration of a customer’s contract.
CityFibre (CF) News
14 June – CF announced it is continuing to expand its rollout in Bognor Regis, and will soon bring ultrafast and reliable broadband to the areas of Middleton-on-Sea, Elmer Sand and Flansham.
CityFibre’s rollout in Bognor Regis began in 2022 and it has since brought full fibre to the areas of Aldwick, North Bersted, South Bersted, Shipney, Hotham and Felpham.
27 June – CF announced that over 12k homes and businesses in Chichester as its network build approaches around 85% coverage of the city.
Independent Operators (AltNets) News
3 June – Hyperoptic announced the appointment of four new key members to its leadership team. These appointments signify Hyperoptic's commitment to continuous improvement and innovation as it reinforces its position as a pioneer in the broadband industry.
Joining the company are Robert Osborne as Director of Enterprise Architecture, Robert Baynes as Technical Operations Director, Michele Hanson as Head of Security, and Mike Bywater as Software Development Director. These hires will continue to strengthen Hyperoptic's dedication to delivering world-class technology solutions and exceptional service to its customers.
3 June – Freedom Fibre announced it had signed Altnets, MTH Networks and BeeBu, as resellers of its wholesale services offering; it also announced that it had acquired the broadband network in Hollins Green, Warrington to enable residents to access the latest in full-fibre technology, making them ready for service this summer.
5 June – Telecoms Acquisition Group (TAL) acquired yet another broadband customer base, this time from little known ISP brand Eze Talk Residential. Eze Talk is currently adopting more of a business focus, and TAL will acquire only Eze Talk Residential’s 2,750 strong base of residential customers. In the last 15 months to February 2024, TAL have grown to circa 100,000 customers, while returning a £40m turnover, and this latest acquisition adds to that. On 17 June TAL announced another acquisition after they scooped the CityFibre linked residential customer base of ISP Gigabit Networks.
5 June – Trooli informed customers that it will be changing UK ownership structure, which indicates it may be looking to split its business into a wholesale and retail offering, along with replacing subscribers’ FTTP modems over the next coming months.
6 June – brsk, announced it will expanding its network to include 60k premises across St Helens in Merseyside, and neighbouring Ashton-in-Makerfield in Wigan, Greater Manchester. It also announced that it will double its existing network coverage to enable approximately 50k homes across Calderdale in West Yorkshire. Currently, 23k homes and businesses across Brighouse, Elland, Hipperholme, Bailiff Bridge, Hove Edge, Woodhouse, Rastrick, Lower Edge, Greetland, Stainland, Sowood and Holywell Green can brsk’s network with the plans to expand, taking that number to 47k.
11 June – B4RN, announced that it had officially begun the next phase of their expansion – taking them further into Northumberland and County Durham which will cover around 5,500 premises.
13 June – Truespeed announced its ultrafast full-fibre broadband footprint has expanded to over 100k premises, with over 21k connected customers.
15 June – Netomnia and Brsk, announced a merger to establish a scaled and capital-efficient retail, wholesale and consolidation platform. The new group will have a combined network footprint of 1.5m premises immediately post-merger, with a target of reaching 3m premises by the end of next year. Netomnia and Brsk built 1.5m premises Ready for Service (RFS) and connected 140k customers so far using £300m of debt. They plan to use up to £900m of debt to grow the footprint to 3m premises.
17 June – GoFibre, passed 100k homes and businesses in northern England and Scotland.
19 June – Energy and communications provider Telecom Plus, which trades as Utility Warehouse (UW), published its latest Full Year Results and revealed that its broadband ISP grew its total UK customer base to 374,792 (up by 20.67k in the year) and its mobile base hit 466,216 (up by 72k).
20 June – toob, announced it had reached the 50,000th customer milestone and its earliest network deployed in Southampton now has over 40% penetration with an overall network penetration rate of almost 20%.
20 June – Newcomer Altnet Pulse Fibre, which is focused UK new build homes, announced it is aiming to complete over 250k unique FTTP connections into new build dwellings. As part of this, they’ve just joined the Fibre Cafe connectivity aggregation platform.
26 June – WightFibre, announced they have signed up its 21,000th customer on the Isle of Wight.
27 June – G.Network announced that it had received an additional £85m in funding from its long-term equity investor USS.
28 June – Zzoomm whose 2 Gbps FTTP network had covered 200k premises (RFS) across 23 towns in England reported its end of year results (Dec 2023) and confirmed that it will cease new building work from the end of June 2024 with a ‘Focus on commercialisation with current network construction’.
Other News
1 June – Plusnet announced that during June 2024 it will be closing all Plusnet mobile services. It will confirm customers cease dates at least 30 days before their mobile account ceases. Once their account is ceased they won’t be able to make or receive calls (other than emergency 999 calls) send texts or use their data. They’ll have 40 days from their cease date to move their service to another provider. After 40 days their account will automatically be closed. They will lose all of their services and it will not be possible to transfer their mobile number once their account is closed.
19 June – Ofcom to revoke all licences for unpaired 2100MHz UK mobile band by 2029.
25 June – New study ranks UK parliamentary constituencies by broadband speed.
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