Research Round-up October 2026
Key publication of the month:
Global fixed broadband subscribers reached 1.608 billion in Q2 2026, according to Point Topic's latest quarterly subscriber data covering 124 countries. Growth continued but slowed, while fibre to the premises (FTTP) edged closer to three-quarters of all fixed lines worldwide.
Key headlines
Subscribers grew by 0.8% (12.8 million) quarter-on-quarter and 3.9% (60 million) year-on-year, slowing from 1.07% growth in Q1. Excluding China, growth was 0.97%, the lowest in six quarters.
South & East Asia delivered 53.9% of global net additions and Latin America 17.4%. Western Europe and Asia-Pacific each grew by less than 0.3%.
FTTP added 15.2 million lines in the quarter and 70 million over the year, reaching 1,196 million lines, or 74.4% of all fixed broadband (up from 72.8% a year earlier).
Copper fell by 17.4% to 49.1 million lines (just 3.1% of the total), while wireless/FWA grew 30.1% to 61.2 million and satellite grew 48.8%.
China, the USA, Brazil, the UK and India were the top five FTTP adders, accounting for 55.1% of FTTP net additions. The UK's overall subscriber base was essentially flat.
Technology shift
FTTP now dominates in South & East Asia (91.4% of lines) and has passed half of all lines in Western Europe (52.6%, up 5.3 percentage points year-on-year). North America remains cable-led (51.1%), with FTTP at 31.1%. Legacy technologies continue to decline: FTTx fell by 10.9 million lines (-8%) and cable by 6.4 million (-3.9%).
Country highlights
China, India and the USA added the most subscribers in Q2. Kenya (+47.3%), India (+24.9%) and Pakistan (+24.6%) grew fastest year-on-year, while Iran (-4.2%) and Indonesia (-2%, after Telkom removed over 1 million inactive customers) saw the largest quarterly falls.
Access the full dataset
Explore the latest subscriber and technology data by country and region on our free Broadband Dashboards, or read the full report.
Key October telecoms sector news
BT Group News
1 October – BT confirmed it will relaunch BT TV from 15 October, with the EE TV service rebranded as BT TV for BT Broadband customers.
5 October – BT Group acquired TalkTalk Telecommunications and wholesale business PlatformX Communications (PXC) out of administration (administrators Alvarez & Marsal) on a debt-free basis. The deal brings around 1.5 million retail and 1 million wholesale customers, with around 900 staff transferring. BT expects a cash impact of around £400m in FY27, including a trading loss of about £60m and roughly £100m of uncollected Openreach revenue. CEO Allison Kirkby described it as a "genuinely unprecedented situation". Clive Selley will lead stabilisation and integration, with Martijn Blanken becoming CEO of BT International, and BT and TalkTalk will operate separately while the deal is reviewed.
5 October – Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy issued a Public Interest Intervention Notice on the deal, asking the CMA to report on competition issues. Ofcom published advice for TalkTalk customers, and Dame Melanie Dawes wrote to BT on its acquisition plans. The CMA delivered its report on 19 October.
7 October – Openreach CEO Katie Milligan said she was confident of reaching 25 million premises with full fibre by the end of December, while flagging capacity constraints in some areas. Openreach also selected Ciena's WaveLogic 6 technology for its Optical Spectrum Extended Access (OSEA) network, including national 800G services.
8 October – Openreach named a further 112 exchanges, covering 619,724 premises, for copper "stop sell" (tranche 26), taking effect no earlier than October 2027.
14 October – Openreach announced that more than 7,600 premises in rural Perth & Kinross can now get full fibre through the Scottish Government's R100 programme, which has now reached over 100,000 premises across Scotland.
20 October – Openreach published its October 2026 update to its full fibre build plan.
26 October – Lisa Nandy proposed adding telecoms continuity as a public interest ground under the Enterprise Act, and creating a statutory "Supplier of Last Resort" for broadband. Her decision on whether to clear the BT/TalkTalk deal or refer it to a Phase 2 investigation is awaited.
28 October – Openreach said around 210,000 premises in Cumbria (roughly 75%) can now order full fibre following £63m of investment, as its UK-wide network passes 23 million premises.
Virgin Media O2 News
2 October – The CMA provisionally found that nexfibre's £2bn acquisition of Netomnia (Substantial Group) may result in a substantial lessening of competition in wholesale fixed broadband, comparing the deal against a scenario in which CityFibre buys Netomnia. A final decision is due by 15 December. Around 20 October, nexfibre's owners (InfraVia, Liberty Global and Telefónica) called the interim report "fundamentally flawed" and chose not to offer remedies.
7 October – VMO2 CEO Lutz Schüler criticised BT's TalkTalk acquisition as "a stitch-up masked as a rescue deal" in an open letter to the Culture Secretary. On 28 October VMO2 called again for the deal to be properly investigated.
21 October – O2 launched 5G Standalone (5G+) across Cumbria, including Carlisle, Barrow, Workington and Ulverston.
26 October – O2 and Nokia deployed the UK's first live AI-RAN technology at O2's Paddington Giga Site, delivering a 20% improvement in spectral efficiency.
27 October – Virgin Media began rolling out its 2Gbps Gig2 service over its upgraded cable (HFC) network in 18 locations including Newcastle, Manchester and Oxford. Around 3 million cable homes have been upgraded, meaning over 10 million households can now get Gig2 (including around 7 million on XGS-PON fibre). Gig2 costs £49.99 per month with 100Mbps uploads, and most of the network is expected to be covered in 2027.
CityFibre News
6 October – CityFibre reported that its network has passed 4.8 million premises (4.6 million ready for service) as of 30 September. Revenue rose 36% to £164m, adjusted EBITDA reached £60m (up from £15m), and connections grew 52% to 1.108 million, taking penetration above 26%. The company also announced a £900m new equity commitment to support consolidation, with Simon Holden saying CityFibre is building "the third national network the UK needs".
11–16 October – The Telegraph and Bloomberg reported that CityFibre has asked lenders to convert part of an around £2bn loan into equity as part of a capital restructure, with the £900m equity commitment conditional on an agreement. Netomnia, Community Fibre and Hyperoptic were named as possible acquisition targets.
Altnets News
2 October – Hyperoptic's latest accounts to 31 December 2025, showed losses of £172.24m (2024: £144.5m), with £1.086bn drawn from a facility of around £1.27bn. The company is negotiating an extension on £98m of debt maturing on 30 November, and its auditors flagged a material uncertainty over going concern.
2 October – The CMA's provisional findings on nexfibre's proposed acquisition of Netomnia (see VMO2 News) have major implications for altnet consolidation.
8 October – Aquiss switched off its final Openreach FTTC service on 7 October, completing its move to full fibre only.
26 October – toob placed more staff on notice of potential redundancy, following last month's debt deal with Ares.
29 October – Highland Broadband pulled back from its planned full fibre rollout in Caithness.
Other News
2 October – Vodafone launched Vodafone TV, priced at £10 a month, or £17 a month for the Essential package with Netflix and HBO Max.
14 October – BDUK expanded two of Openreach's Project Gigabit contracts (Call Offs 3 and 8). The North Oxfordshire Project Gigabit contract, awarded and carried out by Gigaclear, was also declared complete.
23 October – BDUK's October data showed 340,880 of the 861,890 premises contracted under Project Gigabit have now been built (around 40%, up from around 318,000 or 38% a month earlier).
26 October – Ofcom's latest complaints data for Q2 2026 showed BT, EE, TalkTalk and Vodafone generated the most broadband complaints, at 7 per 100,000 customers against an industry average of 6.
29 October – Scotland's R100 gigabit broadband programme was shortlisted for a European award.
Please get in touch if you would like to find out more about UK datasets, Point Topic's Broadband Dashboards, Knowledge Graphs, Broadband Mapping or particular publications.
Comments