UK Broadband in Transition: Full-Fibre Growth, Altnets and Regional Pricing

The UK broadband market is shifting rapidly to gigabit-capable full fibre. Incumbents and challengers are expanding coverage at pace, and growing network overlap is pushing providers toward sharper, more-localized pricing.

Openreach provides gigabit-capable services to about 22.9 million premises, up from 6 million in September 2021. Virgin Media O2 still relies largely on its hybrid cable network but has expanded gigabit coverage from 15.5 million to 18.8 million premises, and it sells only through its own retail channels. Vodafone has no fixed network; it reaches about 20 million premises through wholesale deals with Openreach, CityFibre and Community Fibre, so the network — and the speeds it can offer — depend on location.

That location-dependence can materially change what customers are offered, from Openreach ADSL or fibre-to-the-cabinet in some areas to multinetwork full-fibre choices.

Alternative networks or “altnets” are intensifying the competition. CityFibre is the largest, with just under 5 million premises passed (about 16% of the UK) and wholesale partners including Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen, supporting speeds up to 5 Gbps. Netomnia, which sells through its retail subsidiary YouFibre, claims speeds up to 8 Gbps and has passed about 3 million premises (10%). It recently announced that it is set to be acquired by nexfibre, the Virgin Media O2–InfraVia venture, which has about 2.6 million premises passed (9%). Hyperoptic has passed almost 2 million premises (7%), and Community Fibre covers more than 1 million in London (5%).

Where networks overlap, pricing pressure is clear. In areas served only by Openreach’s fibre-to-the-premises network, a 900 Mbps to 1.2 Gbps package averages at £44.13 per month; where two networks are present, that falls to £43.03. The average price drops again to £41.50 where three networks are available and to £41.23 where four or more networks offer coverage.

Providers are also differentiating by region. In July 2024, EE priced the same full-fibre package at £29.99 in 13% of tracked locations versus £32.32 in the other 87%, with the lower price concentrated in major cities including Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham, Birmingham and Bristol.

We’ve tracked some possible reasons for this. All those cities have large universities, and July is the end of the school year, so EE could’ve decided to target landlords and incoming students with lower prices. BT Group could’ve had some internal data that was showing high customer churn in these areas and targeted them by dropping prices for high-speed packages.

This aggressive competition has led to significant price decreases for high-speed packages. Our Sales Panel data shows that packages with speeds faster than 800 Mbps cost £41.75 per month on average in the first half of 2025, then fell to £36.90 in the second half — an 11.6% drop. Average prices for all packages fell by just 3.8%. Over the same period, sales in the high-speed tier rose by 50%, showing strong take-up of these offers.

The market is also becoming more crowded. Ofcom says 57% of premises now have access to more than one gigabit-capable network. For consumers, that increasingly means faster packages at lower prices; for providers, it raises questions about long-term margins — particularly for smaller altnets competing in the most overbuilt areas.

To learn more about regional pricing in the UK broadband market, watch our free webinar on-demand or contact us.