Residential and Commercial Sectors turning to Independent Altnet ISPs for Broadband
A new report shows that more than 5.5 million homes and businesses in the UK can now be connected to independent fibre-optic broadband. For the first time, the total number of FTTP connections provided by the alternative ISP’s exceeds 1 million.
The size of the independent sector has again doubled compared to the previous year. The independent sector continues to attract significant amounts of private financing, with investment and spending commitments expected to reach £17.7 billion by the end of 2025. Coupled with the £12bn announced by BT Group, government announced and VM02 planned investment levels will exceed previous estimates of £30bn to bring next generation networks to all UK properties.
INCA Chief Executive Malcolm Corbett said: This sustained high level of investment, coupled with commitments from others in the private sector such as BT and Virgin Media and the money being made available by the Government, shows that the UK is for the first time on the right path to have correct broadband infrastructure competition. Independent carriers are a key piece of this connectivity competition that offers consumers real choice and drives innovation in the broadband services.
The report also describes operator concerns, including: planning and road construction delays risk of over-development from taxpayer-funded project gigabit procurement delivery times for Openreach or other operator services and access to skills and labour.
This report shows that it’s now crucial that Government and Ofcom ensure the momentum is maintained by further developing the underlying policy and regulatory framework to support the infrastructure competition that has now arrived in the UK.
