top of page
Search
Writer's pictureVeronica Speiser
Nov 411 min read

Research Round-up October 2024

 

Key publication of the month:

 

This is our regular update on fixed broadband availability in the UK, tracking the progress between the end of June 2024 and the end of September 2024. The analysis is based on the ThinkPoint broadband availability dataset which includes 1.7m postcodes. More granular, postcode level broadband availability updates by ISP and technology, are available to our ThinkPoint customers.

 

Key headlines

  • At the end of Q3 2024, the overall FTTP coverage was 23.2m premises (70.5% of the UK total). This metric was up from 67.7% in Q2 2024.

  • The number of FTTP-enabled premises was up 4.1% q-o-q, with the growth continuing, albeit a bit more slowly than in Q2.

  • Nearly 8.3 million premises (25% of the UK premises) had access to 2 or more FTTP networks, and 1.1m were covered by 3+ fibre networks.

  • The FTTP coverage was 50% or higher in 84.5% of local authorities, up from 77.5% of LAs three months earlier. We recorded a number of high growth areas in East Midlands and the East of England.

  • The largest number of FTTP premises added was in Stoke-on-Trent (+28K), Birmingham (+18K), and King’s Lynn and West Norfolk (+13K).

  • Stoke-on-Trent also saw the most marked increase in the proportion of premises passed with FTTP – from 42% in Q2 2024 to 64.3% in Q3 2024.

  • Nationwide 1.7m premises could choose between two or more fibre Altnets. Almost 134K premises were served by 3+ alternative fibre networks.

 

Fibre Altnets

As an increasing number of Altnets are exceeding 100K fibre premises passed, we are now focusing on this category. At the end of Q3 2024, CityFibre was at the top of the league with 3.4m FTTP premises covered by their network (Ready for Service premises). Vodafone, TalkTalk and Zen remained the largest retail providers using CityFibre’s network, with more than 3m each. This could change, once Sky start selling FTTP over CityFibre’s network, following the recent announcement of their partnership. More broadly, with Sky already using Openreach and OFNL networks, this new deal could see them becoming the largest fibre broadband retailer, ahead of Vodafone.


According to our records, in Q3 2024 Community Fibre passed 1.4m premises, followed by nexfibre with 1.2m, Netomnia with 1.1m[1], Hyperoptic with just over 1m, and brsk with over 0.6m (Figure 3). We recorded the largest quarterly increase in premises passed for nexfibre (+16.3%).

 

Further consolidation in the market is underway. In June 2024, Netomnia and brsk announced a merger which will have a combined network footprint of 1.8 million premises as things stand, with a target of reaching 3 million premises by the end of 2025. Meanwhile, In March 2024, CityFibre announced its acquisition of Lit Fibre, in what it described as ‘the first of several deals CityFibre expects to close over the next two years’.

 

(Until the deals are approved and completed, we are still reporting brsk and Lit Fibre as separate entities).


Figure 1. Premises passed by Altnets, Q3 2024 (more than 100K premises). Source: Point Topic.
Figure 1. Premises passed by Altnets, Q3 2024 (more than 100K premises). Source: Point Topic.

 

Overbuild by FTTP Altnets has increased further, as multiple network operators are increasingly competing for the same customers. This will put further pressure on take-up rates, profit margins and lead to further consolidation in the market.

 

In Q3 2024, 86 local authorities had three overlapping fibre Altnets, up from 80 in the previous quarter. Tendring in the East of England and Boston in East Midlands led by the percentage of premises served by three Altnets, with 12.4% and 10.33% respectively. Five out of the top ten LAs in this category were in London and the South East, where higher population density and average household income do play a part. Among all the 86 LAs with three fibre Altnets present, 33 were in these southern regions.


The complete dataset used to produce this analysis is part of our ThinkPoint 

service which involves UK Broadband Mapping at postcode level. For more information check our UK Mapping page.


[1] Netomnia are reporting 1.2m. Note: There will generally be a lag to the operator announcements for premises passed at the time since it takes us time to properly track and audit any new deployments, unless the operators tell us about them. Also, we report RFS (ready for service) premises, while some operators and ISPs include premises where customers can pre-order a broadband service.



Key October telecoms sector news

BT Group News

Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) News

CityFibre (CF) News

Independent Operators (Altnets) News

Other News

 

If you are a subscriber to UK Plus, sign-in here to access our UK Plus content where you can view our updated Q3 2024 profiles of the UK’s leading internet service providers, as well as our annual overview of the country’s broadband market.


Please get in touch if you would like to find out more about UK Plus or particular publications.



Comments

bottom of page