Research Round-up October 2025
- Veronica Speiser
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
Key publication of the month:
Summary
Global broadband subscribers surpassed 1.53 billion in Q2 2025, marking a 1.1% growth. Broadband subscriptions[1] declined in 24 countries[2], compared to 22 in Q1 2025. In some of these markets, consumers are migrating to mobile broadband, others are experiencing economic headwinds or are already highly saturated.
Other key points:
In terms of growth, India remained at the top of the largest 20 fixed broadband markets with a 6.7% quarterly growth rate.
The share of FTTH/B in the total fixed broadband subscriptions increased further and stood at 72.68%. Broadband connections based on other technologies saw their market shares shrink again, with the exception of satellite and fixed wireless access (FWA).
Year-on-year, FTTH/B connections grew by 7.2%. Satellite and FWA saw an even higher annual growth (41.6% and 31% respectively).
Legacy copper subscriptions declined by 12.1% y-o-y, while FTTx lines (mainly VDSL) went down by 6%, with Spain becoming one of the first countries in the world and the first major European economy to shut down its copper network completely.
5G FWA take-up accelerated, especially in India and the US, as a result of aggressive investments by Reliance, Bharti Airtel, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T.
Global and regional trends in broadband subscriber growth
In Q2 2025, the global fixed broadband subscriber figure grew by 1.1%, exceeding 1.53 billion. In line with seasonal trends, the growth rate was slower than in the previous quarter but it was slightly higher than in the respective quarter of 2024.
South and East Asia continues to claim the largest share of net adds in global fixed broadband subscribers, though it dropped slightly quarter-on-quarter from 63.5% to 62.3%. This was largely due to the slower quarterly growth in China, the largest broadband market of the region[3], which is inevitable due to the increasing market saturation.
Other regions saw their net adds shares expand, with an exception of Latin America and Western Europe. In Western Europe, whose net adds share halved, most of the Scandinavian countries, the UK and some others saw a decline in fixed broadband subscribers, as the extent of migration to gigabit capable technologies was not sufficient to offset the decline in copper-based subscriptions.
In this context, Spain became one of the first countries to officially shut down its copper network. The Spanish incumbent Telefonica switched off its last copper exchanges in May 2025, and the country no longer has ADSL or VDSL connections. Nevertheless, with 90% of its broadband subscribers on FTTH, Spain reported a healthy 1.1% quarterly growth in total fixed broadband connections. The country has a near-universal FTTH coverage.
Broadband penetration among population is one of the factors affecting growth rates, as illustrated by the Middle East and Africa, which remains at the bottom right corner of the penetration – growth chart (Figure 1), signifying the lowest penetration (9%) and the highest quarterly growth rate (2%). It retains a good growth potential, especially for FWA and satellite broadband connections. Some countries in the region are also heavily investing in FTTP.
[1] Whenever we refer to ‘broadband’ in this report, we mean fixed broadband. Also, ‘subscriptions’ and ‘connections’ are used interchangeably.
[2] It is possible there will be restatements in the coming quarter/s and single-period data should be viewed in that light. Decline in some markets can be due to changes in methodology used by national regulatory authorities.
[3] Although we use them in our reports, we cannot vouch for the country’s officially reported broadband subscriber figures which suggest household penetration well over 100%.
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Key October telecoms sector news
BT Group News
10 October – Openreach published GEN089/25 Notification of Tranche 18, 84 FTTP priority exchanges, stop sell implementation 06 November 2025. Realignment of 10 notified exchanges. The briefing notified CPs about an update for Tranche 18 and also informed all CPs of the realignment of 10 exchanges from Tranches 18, 19 and TBD.
10 October – Openreach published GEN088/25 Notification of product stop sells, Tranche 22 in 94 FTTP exchanges. This briefing is to inform all CPs about the minimum 12 months’ notification of product stop sell to be activated in the Tranche 22 FTTP priority exchange locations, bringing the total of notified exchanges to 1732 including the Salisbury trial site.
16 October – Greg McCall appointed Chief Security and Networks Officer at BT Group, as Howard Watson announces retirement.
16 October – Openreach published NGA2015/25: Special offer where the rental charge will effectively be £0 (after rebate) for the first 12 months on all FTTP New to Network (NTN) that originate from Fixed Wireless Access (FWA). Openreach is introducing a special offer where the rental charge will effectively be £0 (after rebate) for the first 12 months on all FTTP New to Network (NTN) that originate from Fixed Wireless Access (FWA). The special offer will be applicable to orders:
Placed and completed within the Special Offer Window (17 November 2025 to 31 March 2026 inclusive); and
Where the line has both originated from FWA and is NTN.
To participate in the offer, each Communication Provider must submit a list of NAD keys representing their active FWA customer base prior to the start of the offer period, which will be kept confidential. For any NTN FTTP order placed and completed during the offer window at a NAD on that list, the Communication Provider who placed the completed order will benefit from the Special Offer Price. Once live, the FTTP rental will be charged at standard rates and rebated quarterly in arrears, resulting in a net zero rental cost for the first year.
22 October – Openreach published GEN096/25 ECC and PIA Ancillary Items Price Changes. Openreach is announcing price changes to ECC and PIA ancillary items. These changes include price decreases and price increases.
Price decreases will be effective from 20/11/2025, and price increases will be effective from 21/01/2026.
This briefing supports ACCN OR1024.
30 October – Openreach announced NGA2016/25 FTTP Appointment Pull Forward process. The FTTP Appointment Pull Forward Process allows CPs to offer in scope end customers an earlier appointment date, where Openreach has operational capacity available.
From 28 January 2026, Openreach will introduce an end customer reappointing calendar and will waive the CP Amend charge for end customer-initiated appointment changes as detailed below to support CPs using the process.
Where operational capacity is available, in scope end customers will be offered earlier appointments via Direct End Customer Contact (DECC) and will be given the opportunity to choose an earlier date using the end customer reappointing calendar. This will apply to pre- and post-CCD scenarios.
30 October – Criminals now scanning business devices over 4,000 times a day as BT launches AI-powered security for SMEs.
31 October – Openreach published NGA2017/25 Equinox 2 - GEA-FTTP 1200Mb / 120Mb & 1800Mb / 120Mb rental prices. As of 1 February 2026, the Equinox prices in the Openreach price list will be changed as follows:
1. GEA-FTTP 1200Mbit/s / 120Mbit/s from £23.28 per month to £22.24 per month.
2. GEA-FTTP 1800Mbit/s / 120Mbit/s from £30.59 per month to £23.28 per month.
Price changes will be effective from 1 February 2026 until 30 September 2031 (inclusive), which is the end of the Equinox contract period. Prices will be subject to annual increases of CPI – 1.25% or 0%, whichever is highest. There are no changes to any other Equinox terms.
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) News
2 October – Virgin Media O2 set to boost mobile connectivity across the UK with first-of-its-kind Giga Site switch on and newly acquired spectrum.
9 October – Virgin Media gigabit broadband now available to 13,000 more homes in Sheffield for first time.
9 October – Virgin Media streamlines customer installations with launch of Single Visit Install programme.
13 October – Virgin Media O2 refreshes Volt bundles to offer more freedom and flexibility.
15 October – VMO2 doubles down on renewable energy to future-proof its network resilience as part of its journey to net zero.
16 October – Virgin Media O2 invests in new 5G high-speed airwaves to boost mobile network for future.
17 October – Virgin Media O2 begins upgrading customers to the WiFi Hub 5 for free.
23 October – Virgin Media gigabit broadband now available to 6,000 more homes in Llantwit for first time.
30 October – Virgin Media O2 signs landmark partnership with Starlink to boost rural UK mobile coverage.
CityFibre (CF) News
1 October – CityFibre announced its rate of customer connections is close to doubling quarter-on-quarter, with 108,000 customers connected in Q3 2025 (Q2 2025: 58,000), a new record for the company.
CityFibre now has around 730,000 customer connections, with growth accelerating across its ISP partners. In July, Sky launched across CityFibre’s nationwide network, joining an ISP line-up that serves around 50% of the UK broadband market.
Independent Operators (Altnets) News
2 October – VeloxServ and Gigaclear join forces to broaden full-fibre access via wholesale channel.
6 October – West Sussex-based Altnet provider Briant Broadband launched 5 Gbps symmetrical speeds over its own full fibre network in the Worthing area.
9 October – Gigaclear announced the start of their roll-out under Project Gigabit’s East Gloucestershire (Lot 18) contract. The roll-out is expected to reach a total of 18 rural communities across rural East Gloucestershire.
15 October – 4th Utility published its end of year results to end-March 2025 reporting that, "The 2024-25 financial year was another of significant growth for the Company in several key performance indicating areas, signified by recurring revenues increasing by £1.9m (+103%) thanks to a doubling of monthly subscriptions sold through the year. This contributed to the negative EBITDA reducing to £5.0m as the Company also exercised cost efficiency measures."
Other News
2 October – Vodafone and Nokia have successfully trialled a new internet technology on a live commercial fibre broadband network, which can significantly reduce internet delays during gaming or videoconferencing, as well as improve the customer experience when streaming content. Using Vodafone Türkiye’s Fibre to the Home (FTTH) network, including in-home Wi-Fi, in Istanbul, the two companies reduced lag (the time it takes for data to be sent and received over a network) by up to 94%, paving the way for a significant boost in the quality of interactive online experiences for customers. Lag or latency of 100 milliseconds or more – roughly the time it takes to blink an eye – can cause a noticeable delay during video calls or online gaming.
8 October – The Welsh Government tenders £70 million Extending High Speed Broadband Framework Agreement.
9 October – Ofcom reject competition concerns over Openreach’s FTTP upgrades offer.
14 October – Parliament published guidance on Broadband companies and telegraph poles.
22 October – INCA unveiled new infrastructure sharing venture to win market share in mobile and datacentre markets, the move will support use of 500,000km of spare fibre capacity across the UK.
24 October – Ofcom has today announced the final results of its mmWave spectrum auction, following completion of the remaining stages.
24 October – BDUK summarise progress of UK Project Gigabit broadband rollout contracts.
30 October – Ofcom published its Report: Complaints about broadband, landline, mobile and pay-TV services. In the quarter from April to June (Q2 2025), complaints to Ofcom decreased compared to the previous quarter (Q1 2025: January to March 2025). Complaints about fixed broadband, landline, and pay-TV decreased and complaints about pay-monthly mobile stayed the same.
EE was the most complained about fixed broadband, landline and pay-TV provider.
Plusnet was the least complained about fixed broadband provider.
Utility Warehouse generated the least landline complaints.
The least complained about pay-TV provider was TalkTalk.
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