2024 was a landmark year for the UK fibre market. Thanks to strategic investment and rapid network expansion initiated by the government’s Project Gigabit, the UK achieved its goal of providing gigabit broadband access to 85% of households and businesses by 2025.
The window of opportunity to build new infrastructure has closed for most small altnets and the focus is shifting to last-mile deployment, winning customers, and activating services. The UK fibre market is in a shakeout phase. Small altnets that can’t drive revenue from their investments will disappear. Larger altnets are already turning to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to expand their networks and compete more effectively with the nation’s biggest players, BT Group’s Openreach and Virgin Media O2 (VMO2).
In mid-2024, the UK’s leading altnet, CityFibre, acquired Lit Fibre and added 280,000 premises to its footprint. The consolidation helped the network provider achieve a 34% increase in revenue, contributing to its first full year of profitability. The merger between brsk and Netomnia establishes them as the second-largest altnet in the UK after CityFibre with 1.5 million premises passed. FullFibre and Zzoomm’s merger boasts a combined total of 600,000 premises ready for service.
Change in the UK fibre market will only increase in 2025. Network providers of all sizes need to prepare to seize opportunities as soon as they arise and adapt operations to meet the market’s shifting demands. In this article, we’ll explore how consolidation will influence network providers’ operational strategy and how they can leverage AI technology to power efficiency, quality control, and growth.
UK Fibre Network Market Consolidation Demands Operational Innovation, Driving AI Adoption
Winning customers and achieving profitability are the core challenges that network providers need to overcome in 2025. Smaller altnets will need to optimise network performance to win business as larger competitors increase their footprints and operational capabilities through M&A. To pull ahead, consolidated network providers have to deliver consistent experiences to a wider customer base over larger networks. Investing in innovation to power operational efficiency, network reliability, and regulatory compliance will be a key strategy for network providers of all sizes looking to grow in the extremely competitive UK fibre market. With solutions like AI-driven computer vision, providers can deliver the high-quality network performance customers expect.
Aligning Standards and Maintain Consistent Quality Control Across Consolidated UK Fibre Networks
While the number of providers in the UK will decrease as companies consolidate, network overbuild—especially in urban centres—means that customers are still spoiled for choice. Point Topic reports that at the end of 2024, 9.1 million premises in the UK had access to two or more FTTP networks and an additional 1.3 million had access to three or more networks. The race to differentiate will come down to price and network reliability.
Maintaining high standards across an expanded network to ensure reliable performance is a major challenge for consolidated network providers. Different altnets will have different tools and systems for documenting and enforcing quality control. This can lead to inconsistencies in installation and maintenance procedures and inadequate documentation of fibre infrastructure, ultimately impacting network performance. To guarantee consistent quality across their newly expanded network, meet customer expectations, and keep up with Openreach and VMO2, altnets will no longer be able to rely on manual quality assurance processes. When a company brings hundreds of thousands of premises into its footprint, it needs systems for ensuring that the resulting network is up to standard.
Providers can invest in AI-powered computer vision technology to get deeper insight into the quality of the expanded network, get current and new team members on board with quality control procedures, and quickly implement consistent standards across existing infrastructure.
Fibre engineers can use computer vision solutions to automate quality assurance out in the field. Deepomatic’s solution enables engineers to take photos of poles, ducts, fibre cabinets, and optical network terminals (ONTs) and receive real-time feedback about the quality and compliance of their work. Engineers are empowered to fix errors during their first visit, eliminating the need for costly revisits and expensive maintenance down the line. Critical issues are automatically flagged in the back office, saving quality compliance teams hours sifting through photos to spot problems.
Deepomatic increases end-to-end oversight as providers shift from network build to last-mile connection and service activation. As FTTP projects connect to individual homes and businesses, engineers have more sites to visit, more assets to maintain, and more opportunities to make mistakes. With computer vision, providers can ensure that 100% of their network is checked and documented—no matter how large their footprint gets.
Standing Out in the Acquisition Market with an AI-Driven Network Documentation Process
Mergers and acquisitions represent a major economic opportunity for smaller altnets. Those that can take advantage of the active M&A market in the UK will get greater access to existing infrastructure, funding opportunities, and new customers. The value of any provider’s business is its network. To achieve a high valuation, altnets looking to be acquired need to demonstrate network quality and performance through excellent documentation.
Proactively investing in AI-driven computer vision solutions ahead of M&A helps altnets unify their documentation to provide an accurate picture of their network for buyers. It also streamlines operational processes and standardizes quality control protocols, which can significantly expedite integration between companies—making the purchase more attractive to buyers. Computer vision solutions automate data collection, validation, and storage to eliminate documentation errors and provide 360° network visibility.
Providers can embed computer vision capabilities directly into engineer’s mobile terminals to automatically validate every photo taken on site, ensuring that images contain the expected network equipment and that visual data can be accurately analysed. Approved photos are also automatically stored and shared with the back office, so quality assurance teams don’t have to follow up with engineers and contractors about missing or low-quality images. Altnets can customise quality assurance protocols to ensure both images and infrastructure are compliant with industry standards, including PIA regulations.
Deepomatic’s computer vision platform integrates seamlessly with geographic information systems (GIS), making it easy for altnets to capture every detail about their networks and share data across their GIS to get a holistic view of infrastructure from fibre construction to deployment and service activation. They can seamlessly track where cables are buried and log asset inventory—critical information that needs to be passed along to buyers so they’re prepared to maintain the network going forward.
Buyers want to invest in companies with solid cash flow, strong operations, and scalable processes. Altnets that already have robust AI-driven quality control processes in place can leverage that as a selling point. Using a solution like Deepomatic enhances operational efficiency and reduces costs around site revisits or fixing damaged equipment due to installation errors. With reliable, consistent documentation, it’s easy for altnets to prove the quality of their network and business performance to prospective buyers.
Preparing for the Next Evolution of the UK Fibre Market
Competition to provide coverage to the remaining 15% of the UK that doesn’t have access to gigabit broadband on FTTP networks will only become fiercer. The majority of the premises yet to be passed are in harder-to-reach areas, many of which are in Scotland and Wales. The former has to bring coverage to 21.7% of premises, while the latter needs to expand networks to 23.3% of its homes and businesses.
Ofcom is set to release new regulations in 2025 that will focus on promoting competition in the UK fibre market to keep subscription prices low and closing the remaining coverage gap. Regulations will also encourage providers to take advantage of existing infrastructure to limit overbuild and reduce costs—and to ensure that smaller providers and altnets can compete with Openreach.
Providers that can win contracts for building in harder-to-reach areas and those that can offer competitive pricing alongside robust network performance will come out on top. Employing AI-driven solutions to enhance quality control and documentation will enable providers to meet the challenges of completing UK network coverage and bringing new customers onto gigabit broadband. As full-fibre becomes the UK’s status quo, providers must invest in long-term performance, optimise monitoring and maintenance processes, and continue to offer customers exceptional service in the years and decades to come.
