Fibre Provider's Weekly Update

Fibre Provider enables the spectrum of organisations driving the UK’s fibre rollout to keep up to date with the latest commercial, regulatory and planning news. As part of this mission, our weekly newsletter compiles the top news that broke during the week and brings it straight to your inbox.

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In this week's news...

AllPoints Fibre Networks (APFN) has acquired Glasgow-based full fibre broadband provider Brillband . The company will continue to operate as a standalone entity and brand within the APFN Group, and its team will remain in place.

Work will begin immediately so Brillband can serve customers across the country via APFN’s open access wholesale platform.

Founded in 2022, Brillband has attracted over ￡800,000 of investment. The Brillband full fibre can deliver up to 900Mb/s symmetrical broadband speeds through the CityFibre network.

Duncan Di Biase , Brillband Founder and CEO, will remain in place; Jarlath Finnegan , Grou

p CEO of APFN and Cuckoo Fibre, will become Brillband Chairman in addition to his current role.

Finnegan commented: “As the full fibre market evolves, we’re always looking out for compelling opportunities to invest in or acquire other firms.”

Netomnia annual build rate exceeds one million premises

Netomnia , which merged with Brsk earlier this year, is now achieving an annual build rate exceeding one million premises, according to its Q3 financial results.

The altnet's network now passes 1.82 million total premises serviceable (up 258k in a quarter and 190k premises connected (up 40k in a quarter). Its adoption rate has surpassed 10%, up 9% from the previous quarter.

Company revenues were up 317% YoY to ￡12.3m, and adjusted EBITDA was up 13% to -￡8.9m

CEO Jeremy Chelot said: “With integration in full swing and PXC’s H1 2025 arrival on the horizon, we are confidently advancing towards our year-end targets: two million premises serviceable and 235k premises connected.”

nexfibre network to hit 2m premises by 2025

nexfibre ’s network reach has expanded to 1,557,000 premises ready for service and is on track to pass the two million milestone by the end of the year.

The company had reported that it had passed just under 1.3 million premises in its latest quarterly update.

CEO Rajiv Datta said: “Supported by a clear strategy and ￡4.5 billion in funding from world-class investors – InfraVia Capital Partners, Liberty Global, and Telefónica, this continued progress reflects our ability to deliver at scale and pace.

“These accomplishments are a direct result of the dedication and hard work of our team, partners, and investors, whose collective efforts have enabled us to accelerate our rollout and reach new milestones.”

Fibre Forecast sessions - Winter programme

Fibreprovider.net is pleased to announce details of our sponsored programme of ‘Fibre Forecasts’, providing fibreprovider.net readers with insights into the challenges, opportunities, strategies, and technologies shaping the UK fibre sector in 2025 and beyond.

These roundtable sessions bring together industry experts to discuss the key issues and innovations driving the UK fibre sector. The insights gained from these discussions form a crucial part of our editorial calendar, appearing on FibreProvider.net, our weekly newsletter, and across social media.

Participant sponsors will have the unique opportunity to showcase their thought leadership and industry expertise.

Fibre Forecast Programme for Winter 2024

• Assessing Wholesale Model Benefits - Exploring how the wholesale landscape is evolving & how altnets can increase customer take-up by leveraging a balanced wholesale portfolio.
• Evolving Recruitment Priorities- How is the sector finding talent as altnets shift from build engines to sales and marketing organisations? Do skill shortages still plague the sector and how can they be navigated?
• Embedding Efficiency - What partnerships can be leveraged by altnets to build efficiency into their continued build or customer addition processes?

For details on how to participate contact Simon Turton or Heather Miles for details.

Autumn Budget pledges ￡500m funding to improve UK broadband speed

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has announced Labour Government’s first Autumn

Budget, earmarking over ￡500 million of funding next year to improve UK broadband speed and mobile coverage supporting Project Gigabit, with a focus on rural areas.

Previously, the UK's telecom infrastructure projects included two major initiatives.

This included the ￡1 billion Shared Rural Network, aimed at boosting 4G mobile coverage to 95 per cent by 2025, and the ￡5 billion Project Gigabit, which has already brought gigabit-capable broadband to over 85 per cent of the UK.

The new Labour Government had broadly maintained support for previous programmes including the ￡1 billion Shared Rural Network and the ￡5 billion Project Gigabit. During the announcement, Reeves echoed their goal of full coverage.

Reeves said: “With over ￡500 million of funding next year, my right honourable friend for science, technology and innovation secretary [ Peter Kyle] will continue to drive progress in improving reliable fast broadband and mobile coverage across our country, including in rural areas.”

This commitment leaves around ￡1.5 billion of the original Project Gigabit funding unallocated, raising questions about future funding consistency.

B4RN secures new ￡100k Ribble Valley funding

B4RN - Broadband for the Rural North Ltd , has secured new grant funding of ￡100,000 to help them reach more villages in Lancashire’s rural Ribble Valley area.

The funds will help deliver high-speed full fibre broadband to every property in the area. The rural broadband ISP is a community benefit society that has deployed their 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP) network to 25,000 premises across England.

B4RN is a preapproved provider for the Government Gigabit Voucher Scheme and the company has been through a value-for-money test as part of this decision.

According to details released during a recent meeting of the Ribble Valley Council, the new funding has been approved to support several of B4RN’s deployments.

The application received from B4RN for Grindleton and Sawley was for the maximum ￡50,000 grant funding.

The approved allocations include a ￡50,000 grant toward one of B4RN’s deployments in the Ribchester area, as well as another ￡50,000 toward similar deployments in the rural communities of Bolton by Bowland and Paythorne.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you back here next Friday for the latest news update. Be sure to subscribe at the top of this newsletter to get your copy.