While the overall UK fixed broadband market shows signs of stagnation, the shift to full-fibre technology is accelerating rapidly.
Industry data indicates the UK’s fixed broadband sector recorded a net loss of around 14,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2025, reducing total connections to approximately 28.91 million. Despite this plateau in overall subscriber numbers, fibre rollout and adoption continue to grow strongly.
Full fibre, commonly referred to as Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP), is now available to roughly 77.8% of UK premises. Active full-fibre connections rose to about 11.03 million—an increase of 8% in just three months—as customers migrate away from older copper-based services such as DSL and FTTC.
Openreach, the infrastructure division of BT Group, remains the largest provider driving this migration. During the quarter it expanded coverage to around 1.1 million additional properties, bringing its total reach to more than 19 million premises, including around 5.2 million in rural areas.
That expansion translated into record retail growth for Openreach: the network supported the addition of approximately 566,000 new full-fibre customers, taking its total to about 7.09 million active connections. Where Openreach’s network is available, take-up now sits near 37%.
At the retail level, BT’s Consumer division posted modest gains for the second consecutive quarter, adding roughly 11,000 net subscribers. BT is increasingly positioning its Plusnet brand to appeal to cost-conscious customers, a tactic aimed at countering competitively priced alternative networks, commonly called “altnets.”
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) experienced a more challenging quarter, losing approximately 51,000 broadband customers. The operator has attributed some of this decline to aggressive pricing by altnets and the effects of the One-Touch Switching process, which has reduced the effectiveness of exclusive retention offers. VMO2’s full-fibre rollout also slowed amid broader financial pressures at its parent group, which abandoned plans to launch a wholesale network competing directly with Openreach.
Other major retail providers showed mixed results. Sky saw a small reduction of roughly 12,000 connections, while TalkTalk continued to face declines of around 20,000 subscribers. TalkTalk did secure £100 million in fresh funding intended to revive its consumer strategy—a development that will be welcomed by its wholesale partner, Openreach.
The standout trend in the quarter was the ongoing growth of the altnets. Independent alternative network providers collectively added about 205,000 new subscribers, expanding their customer base by roughly 41% year-on-year to reach an estimated 2.96 million connections.
Leading the altnet charge is CityFibre, which added about 69,000 full-fibre connections during the quarter, bringing its total to around 650,000 customers. Backed by a new £2.3 billion funding round, CityFibre is positioning itself for consolidation and greater market share among the altnets.
CityFibre’s influence was highlighted by a significant retail partnership with Sky, which has begun offering multi-gigabit broadband packages across CityFibre’s network. Sky is expected to favour CityFibre for new customer acquisition where the alternative network is available, creating a meaningful competitive challenge to Openreach.
This intensifying competition is benefiting consumers: entry-level prices for ultrafast services are falling. The average monthly cost for a full-fibre package above 100 Mbps decreased by around 4% to roughly £26.80. Providers such as Gigaclear and Community Fibre are among the most competitive, with some offerings priced near £18.00–£19.00 per month.
Although the total number of UK fixed broadband subscribers has hit a plateau, the future of the market is being decided in the race to full fibre. Competition among Openreach, VMO2 and a consolidating altnet sector is intensifying, promising faster speeds, more competitive pricing and greater choice for millions of households across the country.
(Photo credit: Dixit Dhinakaran)
See also: RootMetrics: EE still UK’s best mobile network after twelve years
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