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New customers looking to join Virgin Media (O2) may like to know that they’ve kicked off their Winter Sale today, which will run until 4th February 2026 and offers a variety of discounts across their various broadband packages, TV bundles (these all include Netflix Standard) and triple-play deals with O2’s mobile SIMs.

The new deals aren’t all that different from what we saw around the Black Friday period, although there are a few notable ones. For example, their 2Gbps package (nexfibre areas) has now been reduced in price to just £49.99 per month on a 24-month term with free installation, although it does increase to £53.99 from April 2026 and then £57.99 from April 2027.

However, the sale announcement does talk a lot about “Netflix Standard” being included with their TV bundles (as well as their 500Mbps and 1Gbps broadband-only packages), although it’s important to be clear that this is “Standard with Ads” (normally £5.99) and not the regular “Standard” (£12.99) plan that’s being bundled.

Customers with an O2 mobile account who add Virgin Media’s broadband to their household services can also enjoy Volt rewards, such as Double mobile data on all eligible O2 mobile Plans, a broadband speed boost (usually double speeds) and their WiFi guarantee (i.e. minimum download speeds of 30Mbps in every room or £100 credit back). Check out Virgin Media’s site for all the new offers.

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Alternative network operator and broadband ISP CommunityFibre, which has invested c.£1bn to deploy a 5Gbps speed full fibre (FTTP) network across 1.342 million UK homes (inc. 185k businesses within 200 metres of their network) – mostly in London, has just removed all of their mid-contract price hikes for new customers.

The provider had previously adopted a pricing policy that increased the monthly price that customers pay for their package by £2 each April. But from today that policy has been removed from all of their packages for new customers, and they’re instead now offering a “price lock“, which should remain available to take until 2nd February 2026.

Prices now start at a flat £19 per month for their 100Mbps (symmetric) speed tier with an included router and free installation on a 24-month minimum term (shorter terms also exist, albeit at extra cost), which rises to £63 per month for their top 5Gbps (5,000Mbps) package; the latter is a premium tier that adds a WiFi 7 router, “guaranteed” whole home wireless coverage, bespoke engineer setup and priority support.

Take note that a basic ‘Essential‘ plan also exists for those on lower incomes (although technically anybody can take it), which costs £12.50 per month on a 12-month term for symmetric speeds of 35Mbps and a very basic WiFi 5 router.

The only thing to be aware of is that, at the end of your contract (applicable to all contracts), the monthly price will still increase by £4 versus your last month (post-contract change rather than mid-contract). But otherwise, it’s nice to see a provider at this scale moving away from mid-contract hikes, even if it might not last. Sadly, existing customers won’t benefit from the change.

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Residents of the 100-home Amberwood estate in Carlisle (Cumbria, England), which was originally built by Persimmon Homes and thus served by a single full fibre (FTTP) network from FibreNest (recently acquired by OFNL), have expressed frustration after another protracted broadband outage hit the area – allegedly the latest in a long list of disruptions over the past 6 years.

The latest outage is said to have disrupted internet connectivity for three long days earlier this month, which FibreNest attributed to being caused by “malicious damage to infrastructure owned by its network partner, Virgin Media” (likely a reference to a core fibre link that feeds data capacity to the development).

However, residents told the local News & Star that the latest outage is part of a long-running pattern of unreliable service stretching back more than six years, with complaints highlighting a lack of support from the ISP and the need to spend extra money on 4G/5G based mobile broadband as a backup due to local connectivity being deemed unreliable.

“This isn’t a one-off – it’s happening all the time, with days of no internet,” said estate resident Melanie MacPake. Complaints like this have cropped up on other estates where FibreNest / OFNL are present (example) and tend to be exasperated by the fact that the operator is often the only gigabit-capable broadband network present, which in this case stems from the fact that FibreNest used to be part of Persimmon and thus held some degree of exclusivity over the estate.

FibreNest’s dominance of such estates often makes it challenging for rival networks to enter (residents in other areas have previously described this as being similar to a mini “monopoly“). Persimmon Homes did respond to this criticism in 2021 by launching a wholesale product (FibreNest Wholesale) that rival ISPs could harness (here), but this has thus far not been attractive enough to entice any other providers.

The new owner of FibreNest, BUUK Infrastructure (GTC, OFNL – Open Fibre Networks Limited), has said that it plans to introduce customer choice across FibreNest-served developments in 2026. But this is currently only likely to reflect an expanded choice of retail ISPs, albeit via the same underlying network infrastructure (i.e. the ISPs on OFNL’s platform), and should thus not be confused with real competitive infrastructure layer choice. This may also not be enough to address the unreliability of the existing infrastructure.

A spokesperson for FibreNest added that it “strives to deliver the best possible experience for its customers” and “continuously reviews all aspects of its service“. But it’s currently unclear whether they plan to make any changes that might improve the resilience of their underlying network on the estate.

At present situations like this rarely catch the eye of the government and thus wider debate, since they exist at a fairly small scale relative to the wider UK broadband market. But it’s possible that may change as the national deployment of full fibre lines slowly reaches its target of near universal (c.99%) coverage by 2032. This could potentially shift some of the focus back toward resolving infrastructure competition in such niche areas. But hope is not a strategy.

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The past couple of years have been awash with news and predictions about rising consolidation within the UK’s market for alternative fixed broadband networks (altnets). But keeping track of so many developments can be difficult, so ISPreview has decided to start a new tracker, which monitors related announcements since 2020 onwards.

Most altnets across the market are currently looking at consolidation as a way of balancing against the difficult market conditions that have arisen over the past few years. Much of this has been driven by high interest rates, rising build costs and strong competition (i.e. overbuild and the impact on customer take-up) – all of which is making it hard to raise fresh investment and expand networks.

However, it’s easy to overlook that this squeeze has already resulted in quite a few sizeable consolidation agreements taking place, and many industry observers expect the current crop of c.80 altnets to shrink down into a market dominated by just a handful (or less) of players over the coming years. Suffice to say that we’ve been keeping track of this for a while and thought readers might benefit if we shared our data.

Take note that the table below is purely focused on infrastructure providers – typically those that have been building full fibre networks for consumers to use – and not retail ISPs, although some of the below agreements do include vertically integrated retail ISPs (we’ll mention those where relevant). The list excludes business providers that only offer traditional Ethernet (leased line) services, as they’re somewhat of a different animal and usually focused on site-specific connectivity, rather than wide area coverage of both homes and businesses.

Altnet UK Fibre Consolidation Tracker (Jan 2020 – Dec 2025)

We will add more consolidation agreements to this list as they occur.

Total Agreements by Year

• 2020: 1
• 2021: 3
• 2022: 0
• 2023: 5
• 2024: 4
• 2025: 6
• 2026: ? (in progress)

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ISPreview is today ending 2025 by taking our annual look back to see how the United Kingdom’s position, in terms of the top 50 fastest countries for fixed broadband and mobile speeds (4G, 5G), has changed since 2024. Overall, the UK’s global rank for mobile speed is now 59th (down from 53rd last year), while our ranking for fixed broadband is 44th (unchanged).

The following report was created by harnessing data from Ookla’s popular Speedtest.net database for benchmarking internet connections around the world, which admittedly does have its caveats. For example, the data can be impacted by other aspects of the connection (e.g. slow Wi-Fi, local network congestion, the performance of speedtest.net’s own servers and consumer package choice), but these issues are shared by all countries.

However, the main differentiator for speeds between countries tends to stem from the balance between network availability and the take-up of faster connection types. For example, countries with a high coverage of gigabit-capable broadband technologies (FTTP, DOCSIS 3.1+) or strong 5G mobile services (ideally with plenty of radio spectrum for them to harness) will naturally rank highest in the table.

In terms of the UK, we’ve seen a strong and continuous improvement in the availability of both faster fixed and mobile networks. For example, Ofcom recently revealed (here) that 1000Mbps (gigabit) capable fixed broadband ISP networks had reached 87% of premises (up from 84% last year), which falls to 78% when only looking at full fibre FTTP lines (up from 69%).

As for 5G mobile, it is now available from at least one MNO (operator) in the vicinity of around 94-97% of UK premises (up from 90-95% last year) or 64-89% when looking at outside areas with availability from all operators combined (up from 61-79%).

UK Broadband and Mobile Stats vs the World – 2025

The data below reveals that fixed line broadband and mobile speeds have continued to improve across the world. But despite some noted improvements in 5G coverage, other countries still seem able to improve their real-world mobile performance at a faster or similar pace. On the flip side, the UK has seen continued growth in the coverage and take-up of full fibre lines, despite a build slowdown among smaller alternative networks.

We’ve summarised some of the key changes below.

UK Fixed & Mobile Speeds vs The World (2025)

In addition, it’s worth noting that only two of the UK’s cities appear in Ookla’s list of the top fastest cities in the world. For example, for mobile connections, Manchester delivered the fastest average download speed of 113.67Mbps, but it was only ranked 72nd. After that comes London on 78th, which delivered speeds of 103.36Mbps.

In terms of fixed line connections, Manchester, which ranked 60th in this table, once again came top with a speed of 156.03Mbps and they were followed by London in 65th place and a speed of 144.82Mbps.

Otherwise, the following tables show how the countries compare, using only download speed as the key measure, across the top 50 countries. Sadly, Ookla doesn’t make it easy to do the same table for uploads or latency.

Fastest 50 Countries for Fixed Broadband Speed (DL) in 2025

Fastest 50 Countries for Mobile Speed (DL) in 2025

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The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) has sent a warning message (via email and text) to over 1,000 broadband internet users in the UK that have been identified as using “illegal TV streaming services“, which calls on them to “immediately cease using illegal TV streaming services or face the risk of prosecution“.

“People who access illegal TV streaming services are potentially liable to prosecution for criminal offences, including under Section 11 of the Fraud Act 2006. FACT’s latest campaign warns end users that they are not anonymous and that watching unauthorised content carries serious risks,” states the new announcement.

The latest campaign comes shortly after a recent high-profile case involving Jonathan Edge, from Liverpool, who was jailed for his role in running and personally using an illegal streaming service. Edge was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, in a prosecution supported by FACT and Merseyside Police.

Crucially, Edge’s own use of the unauthorised service was “treated as a distinct crime“, leading to a separate concurrent sentence of two years and three months, “highlighting that end users, not just suppliers, can face criminal prosecution for illegal streaming“.

Detective Sergeant Adam Dagnall, Merseyside Police’s Cybercrime Unit, said:

“Merseyside Police takes illegal streaming seriously because it often helps fund organised crime and puts users at real risk. Not only is it a criminal offence, but the unauthorised streaming services frequently contain malware that can compromise personal devices and lead to the loss of information such as banking details, or be used to commit identity fraud.

Legitimate providers have security measures that protect users from these threats. Please don’t be tempted by cheap so-called ‘fully loaded’ or ‘jailbroken’ devices, even as Christmas gifts – you could end up getting more than you bargained for.”

However, it’s worth noting that Edge’s case was rather at the extreme end of things, which in reality means that casual viewing is more likely to be treated like a civil offence (unless you’re also assisting in the distribution of copyright content). The cost and complexity of successfully prosecuting casual viewing usually means that rights holders will adopt other methods, such as warnings and demands for settlement, where viable (e.g. the difficulty of identifying the person who actually committed the offence on a shared internet connection and or whether it was a brief accidental or full viewing).

The example case used above is also much more clear-cut than the casual viewing of a dodgy stream via a random copyright infringing website. This is because the c.1,000 people being contacted reflect those who had purchased access to so-called “loaded” Firesticks, Android, or Kodi devices from Edge. The details were uncovered as part of the police’s investigation into Edge’s operation. Most such viewing on dodgy streaming websites, which rarely keep logs, doesn’t provide such clear and linkable evidence. Lest we forget all the usual challenges from those using proxy servers, VPNs and other methods to mask their activity.

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The UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has tonight revealed that a total of 100 government-funded rural 4G (mobile broadband) mast upgrades have now gone live across England (28 masts), Wales (44) and Scotland (33) as part of the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project. But more are set to follow by 2027.

The SRN – originally supported by a commitment of £501m in public funding and £532m of private investment from operators – involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-led building and sharing of new masts in others between the operators.

The SRN has already achieved its first target a year ahead of schedule by ensuring that 96% of the UK’s landmass can now access a 4G mobile network from at least one operator (here), although the coverage range drops to 89-90% when looking look across all operators (here). The project is now focused on tackling the second target to reduce Total Not-Spot (TNS) areas by January 2027.

Most of the early work on this project has typically involved private investment from the main mobile network operators, but over the past two years we’ve also seen government-funded mast upgrades and new site builds taking place in other parts of the country. A total of 100 mast upgrades have now gone live across the UK via government funding (up from 50 in late May 2025).

Some of this phase has involved helping to upgrade Extended Area Service (EAS) masts that have been built as part of the 4G Emergency Services Network (ESN) – these masts previously only connected EE customers and anyone making 999 calls (i.e. all mobile operators can now use these sites).

The 100 masts are predicted to bring outdoor 4G signal coverage from all mobile networks to over 4,019 square kilometres of the UK – an area equivalent to 2.5 times the size of Greater London. Not to mention 1,400km of roads and 9,500 premises. As well as remote homes, over 400 businesses are now benefiting from new coverage as a result of the latest expansion, boosting economic growth. The new coverage will also be available in 10 national parks across England, Scotland and Wales.

Telecoms Minister, Liz Lloyd, said:

“More of Britain’s rural communities are finally getting the connection they’ve been waiting for as we deck the hills with 4G coverage.

These 100 upgraded masts mean businesses can ring up sales, families can video call their loved ones this Christmas without buffering mid-conversation, and our beautiful rural areas can attract the investment, jobs and tourism they need to thrive.

Whether you’re in the Welsh valleys, the Scottish Highlands, or England’s national parks – rural communities are finally getting the connections they deserve, boosting opportunity and growth as we drive forward plans for national renewal.”

A further 85 government funded mast upgrades are currently planned across Britain before 2027, including up to 44 new publicly funded masts built across Scotland (the first is already live in the Western Isles). The announcement also included a long list of the 100 masts mentioned in today’s update, so if anybody is curious..

The 100 Mast Locations

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Internet, phone and TV provider Virgin Media (O2) has revealed new insights and consumer survey results from their broadband network, which uses data from the end of last year to highlight how customers use their network over Christmas. Suffice to say that traffic on Christmas Day follows a “markedly different pattern” to a typical day, with network activity peaking at 11am, followed by a noticeable drop-off later in the day.

Firstly, in terms of the consumer polling insights – conducted by Strand Partners (collected from a nationally representative sample of unspecified size), some 37% of respondents said the big day would be “catastrophic” if they lost internet access. Despite that, some 52% stated that cooking is the biggest source of Christmas Day stress, while 46% struggle to persuade others to clean up and 40% highlight competitive behaviour as adding to the strain.

Suffice to say that this often results in people looking for digital escape routes. Nearly a quarter of Brits (24%) plan to sneak off to “doomscroll” to escape the tension, while 19% plan to retreat to call or FaceTime/video call a partner or friend who is not present. A further 21% say they will be actively trying to avoid certain relatives altogether.

However, the greatest interest perhaps stems from Virgin Media’s data on network traffic, which reveals some additional insights. On the other hand, it would be nice if the provider included a bit more network data, rather than just their own high-level interpretation of it.

Trends of Virgin Media’s Christmas Broadband Traffic

7am-9am: The screen-first start 

Rather than opting for a lie-in, Brits are up early on Christmas Day, with broadband traffic starting to rise from 6.30am. A third of the nation (31%) start the big day checking social media before seeing if Santa has been, or opening presents. While early-morning usage starts slightly below a typical weekday, it rises rapidly and by 8am is already outstripping average daily traffic. 

9am-10am: Peak present opening 

Between 9am and 10am, broadband traffic rises sharply, as present opening is in full swing across the UK. This year, 21% of households say they are expecting a new phone, and more than a quarter (27%) will be unwrapping new streaming or gaming subscriptions, driving more data consumption as people set up their new devices.  

10am-12pm: Connectivity spike 

By mid to late morning, the Christmas morning broadband rush reaches its peak, with households making video and voice calls to family and friends and setting up new gadgets, pushing traffic on household broadband networks.  

12pm-3pm: The Christmas lunch dip 

Afternoon broadband traffic dips in the early afternoon, with the nation typically sitting down for Christmas lunch between 2pm and 3pm. Many households step away from screens for a walk, board games, or a post-lunch clean-up.  

Evening: On-demand entertainment take-over 

Evening broadband traffic rises sharply again from 5.30pm through the evening as most Brits (68%) say they settle in to stream Christmas TV and films after 4pm. Last Christmas, the evening rush peaked at 9pm, as families tuned into the long-awaited Gavin and Stacey Reunion Christmas Special. Traffic drops off slightly from 10pm as Brits fall asleep on the sofa – with some late-night peaks in upload traffic after 11pm as some post and share Christmas Day content before bed. 

Gareth Lister, Director of Connectivity at VMO2, said:

“Our network traffic paints a clear picture of how the nation spends Christmas Day, showing how Brits rely on connectivity to contact absent friends and family, stream their favourite movies, keep the day running and maintain the peace when festive tensions run high.

With connectivity playing such an important role, it’s vital that families ensure their internet is set up for success. Simple steps such as placing your Wi-Fi router in a central, open location and checking your broadband speed in advance can make a real difference. It’s also worth setting up connected gifts in advance to ensure they are ready to go once opened to ensure nobody is stuck waiting around.”

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Internet and mobile provider Vodafone have been criticised for allegedly failing to correctly compensate some of their customers on Shetland, which is a remote UK subarctic archipelago that resides north of the Scottish mainland. The issue follows from a major subsea fibre break (here) that recently caused a protracted disruption to services during October 2025.

The service disruption did not impact all of the service providers on Shetland in the same way as others, such as Shetland Telecom and BT, which were able to harness an alternative subsea cable. But some, such as Vodafone, lacked the same level of resilience and thus their customers had to endure several weeks of disruption to connectivity.

Customers of the provider’s fixed broadband service should, however, have been able to harness Ofcom’s system of Automatic Compensation. The scheme, which is supported by most of the major ISPs, requires providers to automatically compensate customers (cash or bill credits – within 30 days of the outage) for internet and phone connectivity mishaps (e.g. a total loss of service that last longer than 2 working days) and other delivery delays.

However, a new report on Shetland News reveals that some of Vodafone’s customers have had to argue over incorrect compensation amounts, while others have been told that they will have to manually contact the provider to request it first.

A spokesperson for Vodafone said:

“I can confirm customers in the Shetland area will need to call 191 to discuss compensation for outages.”

In fairness, when it comes to compensation for service loss (i.e. one stemming directly from your ISP’s realm), then Ofcom does state that consumers would normally have to report the fault to their provider first (this is generally always a good thing to do, even if just for evidential reasons). But outages that last longer than two working days are different.

“If your broadband or landline service stops working, you will simply have to report the fault to your provider. If the service is not fixed after two full working days, you would not need to ask for compensation or contact your provider again, as your provider has systems in place that mean you will start receiving compensation automatically if the repair takes too long,” says Ofcom. Indeed, in the case of the disruption to Vodafone’s service on Shetland, there was clearly a serious fault impacting their network, so that cannot be in any dispute.

The best advice for those impacted and still awaiting compensation is to file a complaint with Vodafone, which clearly sets out (dates) the period of disruption. After that you should also lodge a complaint with Ofcom to make them aware that compensation has not been paid several months after the incident. We recommend doing all of this in writing, while keeping it short, polite, and highlighting the impacts it had.

James Waring, VodafoneThree’s government affairs manager, said last month that the company had already been able to offer Shetland customers “the compensation they are entitled to …. [and] also made gestures of goodwill on top of that.” Clearly some of their customers on Shetland would appear to disagree with that statement.

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The North Yorkshire Council (NYC) in England has announced that NYnet, which is the NYC-owned company that – alongside funding from the local authority, UK government (BDUK) and private investment (network operators) – helped the council to spread faster broadband connectivity across the region, is “set to be expanded nationally“.

The focus of NYnet has already evolved somewhat in recent years. The council-owned company, which also builds, owns, and manages their own fibre network, is today more focused on providing full fibre broadband connectivity to the public sector and businesses in North Yorkshire. In addition, they’ve also expanded into national public sector contracts and supporting IoT services. But their profits can also be reinvested to help boost regional connectivity.

However, the company looks set to evolve once again, with the council preparing to propose a significant change that could help NYnet to grow and attract new customers, thus further boosting its profits. A report, which is due to be considered by the council executive on 6th January 2026, outlines the proposals to launch a “new company” that will focus on the existing contracts in the county’s public sector.

Existing contracts in the public sector that NYnet has secured include overseeing the council’s public WiFi service, as well as the county’s closed circuit television network. More than 300 schools alongside NHS trusts and North Yorkshire Police have also benefited. As for private sector contracts, NYnet has delivered better broadband connections to firms including a Boroughbridge-based logistics company, Reed Boardall.

The proposed move would effectively free up the existing NYnet arm of the broadband project to focus on attracting new business nationally (i.e. NYnet Limited becomes a commercial company).

Cllr Carl Les, Council Leader and NYnet Board Member, said:

“The work of NYnet has led the way nationally to introduce far greater internet connectivity for homes, businesses and the public sector. It has placed North Yorkshire at the forefront of the digital revolution and the plans to create the new company are aimed at ensuring that we remain at the cutting edge of technology nationally.

We will consider the proposals carefully when the executive meets, but this is an exciting opportunity to bring in greater profits and provide an even greater return for the taxpayers of North Yorkshire.

The plans provide exactly the innovation and clear thinking that is needed at a time when all councils are facing significant pressures on their financial budgets and would help to build on a vital revenue stream for the council.”

The official announcement is light on useful details, although we did find more information in the related council documents for next month’s meeting (here). This reveals, among other things, that the council are proposing to establish NYnet Public Sector Limited (NPSL) as the name of the new wholly owned company.

Council Recommendations for Decision in Jan 2026

i) approve the Business Case at Appendix A;

ii) approve the implementation of a new wholly owned company (NPSL), in accordance with the details set out in the Business Case at Appendix A;

iii) approve the setting up of a company limited by shares;

iv) approve the investment of a nominal share capital of one £1 share in NPSL;

v) approve NYnet Public Sector Limited as the name of the new wholly owned company;

vi) approve the appointment of the Chief Executive, the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services), Alastair Taylor, Peter Scrope and Richard Doyle as directors of NPSL;

vii) approve the appointment of the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) as company secretary of NPSL;

viii) approve the appointment of the Corporate Director (Resources) as the Shareholder Representative for NYnet Limited and NPSL;

ix) delegate the approval of the articles of association and any other governance documents associated with NPSL to the Assistant Director (Legal);

x) delegate the approval of the amendments to the memorandum (including company objects) and articles of association, and any other governance documents associated with the change of NYnet Limited to a commercial company to the Assistant Director (Legal);

xi) delegate to the Corporate Director (Resources), in consultation with the Assistant Director (Legal), to conclude all steps to agree a reduction of the current loan facility cap to NYnet Limited from £10m to £5m and a new loan facility of £5m to NPSL;

xii) delegate to the Assistant Director (Legal) to progress and conclude the working arrangements of NPSL including the method of the provision of support services, staffing and secondment arrangements between NPSL and NYnet Limited;

xiii) delegate all other necessary steps to secure the implementation of the proposed option to the Assistant Director (Legal);

xiv) agree that the appointed officers to the board of directors of NPSL on behalf of the Council will be entitled to indemnity in accordance with the Council’s Indemnity Policy for Members and Employees;

xv) delegate to the Assistant Director (Legal) the approval of the termination of the Council’s existing contract with NYnet Limited and the direct award of new contracts to NPSL under the Teckal exemption or novation of existing contracts as required.

At present the two documents of most interest in all this, Appendix A – Business Case and Appendix B – Proposed Budgets, are both currently “Confidential“. No doubt rival providers in the commercial space will be keeping a close-eye on all this, due to the usual concerns over competition and any potential conflicts of interest etc.