Research Round-up June 2026
- Veronica Regnault
- 7 hours ago
- 7 min read
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Key publication of the month:
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Key June telecoms sector news
BT Group News
3 June – Ofcom notified that Openreach has submitted new pricing offers for full fibre and Ethernet products, intended to take effect from 1 October. Ofcom opened a call for inputs seeking responses by 19 June, to consider whether any offers raise competition concerns requiring intervention.
8 June – BT joins Anthropic’s Project Glasswing to strengthen cyber defences with frontier AI.
10 June – Openreach confirmed there will be no "big bang" moment when the UK's PSTN analogue phone network closes in January 2027. Rather than a single national switch-off date, the migration will be managed exchange-by-exchange, with customers contacted in advance to migrate to digital voice (VoIP) services.
15 June – Openreach began testing a new standard FTTP broadband installation process, to reduce average installation times and improving the engineer experience at the premises. The pilot covers several exchanges and communications providers.
29 June – BT Group and Verizon Communications announced the signing of an agreement to combine their international enterprise operations into a 50:50 joint venture, to be focused on serving multinational organisations. The combined entity is expected to serve more than 3,000 customers across more than 180 countries with approximately $4 billion in combined annual revenue. The deal brings together BT International with Verizon's international enterprise wireline arm.
Following the announcement to combine our respective international operations in a 50:50 joint venture, creating a new company focused on multinational connectivity, our International division, including the five non-core divestments made during FY26, will be reported as a discontinued operation in our accounts until completion. We are therefore updating our FY27 outlook and mid-term guidance, which now only reflects our continuing business, as shown in the table below.
30 June – Openreach published Equinox FTTP Offer – Year 6 pricing review. The Year 6 pricing will be implemented from 1 July 2027. Final prices will be confirmed after the relevant CPI figure is published in November 2026 and will be notified through the usual ACCN and price list process.
The price adjustment will be capped so that increases do not exceed the lower of:
the relevant fixed value limit available under the Year 6 review; and
the amount needed to achieve a CPI increase on a weighted average basis in FY28, taking into account the fact that implementation starts on 1 July 2027 rather than 1 April 2027.
This means CPs will see no Equinox Year 6 price change for April to June 2027. The July 2027 to March 2028 price movement is then calibrated to recover the same full-year value that would have applied had the CPI-based change taken effect from April 2027, subject to the contractual Year 6 limits.
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) News
O2 expanded its 5G+ Standalone coverage across Wales throughout May and June as part of its UK-wide Mobile Transformation Plan, bringing next-generation 5G to nine large towns and cities, 18 smaller towns, and 133 villages in the nation.
11 June – Virgin Media O2 called for urgent reform of planning rules in London, warning that it has been forced to switch off dozens of mobile sites across the capital because building developers can serve operators with a notice to quit requiring equipment removal within 18 months, faster than the two-plus years it typically takes to find and build a replacement site. VMO2 warned the situation is leaving high-footfall areas of the City and West End with reduced 5G coverage, and has filed policy proposals with government as part of the National Planning Policy Framework consultation. The operator noted it is investing £700 million in its mobile network in 2026.
16 June – O2 switched on its next-generation 5G+ Standalone network across towns in Suffolk, including Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Felixstowe, as part of the UK-wide rollout of its Mobile Transformation Plan.
18 June – Virgin Media O2 expanded O2 Satellite to Google Pixel smartphones, extending availability beyond its initial handset base. O2 Satellite which is available via SpaceX's Starlink constellation is bringing UK direct-to-device satellite mobile coverage to 95% of the UK's landmass.
23 June – Virgin Media O2 announced it will begin switching off its 2G network in Summer 2029. The move follows the completion of its 3G switch-off in late 2025 and comes after all UK mobile operators signed a government-backed voluntary 2G switch-off charter. The 2G network now carries less than 0.5% of VMO2's data traffic but accounts for more than 10% of cell site energy consumption. Redeploying the spectrum to 4G and 5G services is expected to improve speeds and reduce the network's energy footprint.
CityFibre (CF) News
3 June – CityFibre announced that over one million homes and businesses are now connected to its full fibre network, up from 848,000 at the end of 2025. The network covers approximately 4.7 million UK premises, with the company retaining its target of reaching 8 million. CEO Simon Holden credited the milestone to the addition of Sky Broadband to the platform in 2025 and an accelerating penetration rate. UK Telecoms Minister Liz Lloyd welcomed the announcement. CityFibre also provides connectivity to approximately 16,000 public sector sites including schools, hospitals and GP surgeries.
22 June – Analysis published by ISPreview and others highlighted the wider implications of CityFibre's rescoped participation in Project Gigabit, announced in late May, noting that the retreat from several subsidy contracts reflects the extent to which commercial builds by other operators, including Openreach, have moved into areas originally earmarked for public subsidy. CityFibre remains contracted to connect 226,000 subsidised premises through the programme.
22 June – VodafoneThree and CityFibre extended their partnership to link more UK mobile sites to CityFibre's backhaul network, supporting 5G densification across the CityFibre footprint. Over 330,000 Vodafone residential broadband customers are already connected to CityFibre, with services including Vodafone’s ultrafast 2.2Gbps symmetrical home broadband service, available exclusively on CityFibre’s 10Gb XGS-PON network.
Independent Operators (Altnets) News
Throughout June – The CMA continued its evidence-gathering phase on the proposed £2 billion acquisition of Netomnia by nexfibre (the wholesale JV of Liberty Global, Telefónica and InfraVia). Completion remains expected in Q3 2026, subject to regulatory approval. CityFibre has raised concerns about reduced infrastructure competition in overlapping areas. A report from Assembly Research backed the deal on national competition grounds, arguing that fragmentation among sub-scale Altnets has constrained ISP partnerships and benefited Openreach.
11 June – Reports emerged that Community Fibre and Hyperoptic, backed by Warburg Pincus and KKR respectively, may be exploring sale processes, with CityFibre identified as a likely suitor. Neither backer is said to be in a hurry to conclude a transaction. The reports underline the continuing pressure on PE-backed altnets to demonstrate a credible path to exit, and mark a further stage in the anticipated consolidation of the UK market.
Other News
3 June – Ofcom closed its enforcement programme for One Touch Switching (OTS), concluding that the majority of customers are now successfully switching providers using the system since its launch in September 2024. Ofcom said it will continue to monitor compliance closely and take enforcement action if needed.
9 June – VodafoneThree was reported by the Financial Times to have tabled a bid for TalkTalk's consumer broadband and phone business, which has approximately 1.75 million customers. A deal would give VodafoneThree around 3.6 million broadband customers in total. TalkTalk Group has been engaging bidders for its various divisions since the start of 2026 as it works to address underlying debt. VodafoneThree said it remained "very happy" with its organic broadband strategy but would "always keep a close eye on movements in the market."
10 June – Ofcom published its growth goals for 2026–27, setting out planned work on fixed network regulation (including the Hull Telecoms Access Review, due October 2026), the PSTN migration, mobile coverage data improvements, AI in telecoms, and spectrum for satellite broadband.
11 June – BDUK confirmed that 140 government-funded 4G mobile mast upgrades across rural parts of the UK are now live under the Shared Rural Network programme.
19 June – A new report examined the UK's Public Switched Telephone Network switch-off in detail, assessing the readiness of consumers and businesses for the January 2027 PSTN closure deadline and noting ongoing risks for vulnerable customers.
20 June – Ofcom approved a licence variation enabling VodafoneThree to provide direct-to-device satellite mobile services using its 900MHz spectrum band, via its joint venture with AST SpaceMobile (Satellite Connect Europe). Customer trials are expected in Summer 2026. The approval follows the earlier Ofcom licence variation granted to O2 in the 1800MHz band.
A satellite launch failure in April (BlueBird 7 placed into incorrect orbit by Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket) may push back the timeline for full commercial launch, though AST continues to target approximately 45 satellites in orbit by end of 2026.
23 June – BDUK published its June 2026 Project Gigabit contract progress update. A total of 271,460 contracted premises have so far been covered out of a planned 839,340 - 32% complete, up from 256,680 (31%) in the May update.
24 June – TalkTalk paused the sale of new FTTC broadband lines to new customers, a signal of the company's continued cost management and a likely step toward migrating its customer base to full fibre alternatives.
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