Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The latest annual ORESA Growth Index 2026 has just been published and this year’s edition includes five alternative full fibre broadband networks – Toob, Netomnia, Grain Connect, CommunityFibre and Fibrus. The full list ranks the UK’s 100 fastest-growing private companies by compound annual growth rate (CAGR) – those with at least £5m in recent sales.

One caveat to consider here is that being one of Britain’s fastest-growing private technology companies doesn’t always equate to overall success, particularly when some of those operators are still in the rapid build phase and so may be racking up debts faster than they can grow customers. Nevertheless, it’s still good to be placed in lists like this, even if it doesn’t always reflect the full picture.

Orlando Martins, CEO at ORESA, said: “What’s striking is that many of these companies are succeeding despite significant obstacles. We’re seeing founders embrace new technologies, women build high-growth businesses against the odds, and ambitious firms scale internationally. The results suggest Britain is still leaving a great deal of economic potential untapped.”

Overall, the highest ranked alternative broadband network was Southampton based toob (11th) with a CAGR of 154.86% and sales of £14m (Dec 2024), but they have fallen by 11 places since last year’s report.

Top Ranked Altnets in the ORESA Growth Index 2026

1. Toob (11th) with a CAGR of 154.86% and sales of £14m (Dec 2024)

2. Netomnia (20th) with a CAGR of 147.91% and sales of £24m

3. Grain Connect (25th) with a CAGR of 141% and sales of £9m

4. CommunityFibre (55th) with a CAGR of 94.94% and sales of £76m

5. Fibrus (100th) with a CAGR of 63% and sales of £29.5m

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

UK ISP Quickline has announced that they’ve covered “almost” 11,000 premises across North Yorkshire (England) via their gigabit-speed full fibre (FTTP) broadband network, which has occurred two months ahead of schedule as part of their £70m+ publicly subsidised contract under the government’s Project Gigabit scheme.

The North Yorkshire (Lot 31 – £73.5m) contract was first signed back in mid-2024 and originally contracted the operator to expand their existing fibre network in the county to cover a further 36,300 premises in hard-to-reach rural areas. According to the latest June 2026 data from the Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, Quickline is currently contracted to reach 34,490 premises (it’s been modified a little since the original award).

Quickline has now reached almost 55,000 subsidised Project Gigabit premises across its four contracts, alongside significant additional commercial deployment throughout Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. But sadly the latest update doesn’t summarise their current build locations.

Imran Amir, Quickline’s Local Project Manager, said:

“Reaching 10,000 funded premises in North Yorkshire ahead of schedule is a fantastic achievement and reflects the incredible work of our teams and build partners.

North Yorkshire is a vast and complex area to build across, so hitting this milestone early demonstrates both the strength of our delivery model and our commitment to ensuring rural communities are not left behind digitally.

Fast, reliable broadband has become essential infrastructure for homes, businesses and communities, and we’re proud to be helping transform connectivity across the region.”

At the end of 2025 Quickline’s full fibre broadband network covered 200,000 premises (excluding fixed wireless coverage, which also covers c.200,000 premises – not all gigabit-capable) – mostly across rural parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The operator currently aims to extend gigabit-capable broadband to a further 360,000 UK premises.

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Customers of UK broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2), such as those who take their pay TV service via one of the operator’s TV 360 or STREAM box platforms, may like to know that the provider has today added “up to” 14 new “premium” Asian Mela TV channels at no extra cost.

The channels included, which are intended to help celebrate South Asian Heritage Month, are normally part of Virgin Media’s Asian Mela bundle – this usually costs £12 per month and offers customers access to the latest dramas, comedy, reality and films plus much more in “glorious HD” (Virgin are still calling HD “glorious” in 2026, apparently).

The channels will be automatically added to customers’ set-top boxes, but will only be available (free to watch) until 31st July 2026.

List of Asian Mela TV channels available to all VMTV customers

801: Utsav Gold HD

802: Utsav Bharat

803: Utsav Plus HD

805: Sony TV HD

806: Sony Max HD

808: Sony Max 2

809: Zee TV HD

810: Zee Cinema HD

811: Zee Punjabi HD

815: B4U Movies

825: Colors Gujarati

826: Colors HD

827: Colors Rishtey

828: Colors Cineplex

A spokesperson at VMO2 said: “South Asian Heritage Month is a meaningful time for families and communities to come together, and we’re proud to help our customers celebrate by offering access to 14 premium Asian TV channels at no extra cost. With a fantastic mix of much-loved dramas, entertainment shows and blockbuster films, there’s something for everyone to enjoy throughout the month.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile operator VodafoneThree (Vodafone and Three UK) have today become the latest telecoms operator to adopt Vyntelligence’s AI technology (Agentic Video Intelligence) to help speed up the roll-out of thousands of new masts for their 4G and 5G (mobile broadband) network, as well as to cut costs via efficiency improvements.

Over the past year or so we’ve seen a number of UK mobile and broadband operators adopt the same technology, such as Gigaclear and Cornerstone (CTIL). In the case of Gigaclear it was used to help them improve customer installation journeys by reducing unnecessary work (here).

VodafoneThree notes that a key part of their network roll-out is working with multiple delivery partners and subcontractors. Traditionally, the transition from build to activation has relied on detailed paperwork and manual audits, which can slow progress and lead to delays, or require additional site visits. But this can be improved by using Vyntelligence’s AI driven Vyn® app.

The app enables their field teams to capture short, guided videos of their work. The technology then reviews the build quality in near real-time, helping to identify any risks or safety concerns and confirm when the site is ready. “This creates a more streamlined and consistent way to evidence activity on site, while helping to reduce administrative burden for engineers,” said the announcement.

Iain Milligan, Director of Network Development & Infrastructure at VodafoneThree, said:

“Upgrading a network at this scale requires close collaboration across delivery partners and teams on the ground. By working with Vyntelligence, we’re giving our engineers a more streamlined way to capture and share their work, reducing the need for manual, time intensive processes while helping to maintain consistent standards across sites.

Using this technology, we can improve the efficiency, enhance safety and support engineers to progress the network rollout at greater speed and with more confidence – enabling us to deliver better connectivity for our customers.”

In theory this should result in new mobile sites going live “weeks earlier” than usual and partners will also benefit from faster payments, although it naturally won’t be able to overcome external delays from the planning (approvals) process etc.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Struggling Fife-based alternative broadband operator Gigaloch, which back in 2020 started building their own full fibre (FTTP) network across a few remote rural communities in West Cheshire (England) and parts of Scotland, has finally published their annual accounts to 30th Sept 2025 and revealed that they had to write off £1,575,090 due to a creditors’ agreement (CVA).

The operator, which primarily seems to be focused upon building across remote rural parts of Scotland (Perth and Strathearn, Highland Perthshire and Inverness-shire), originally aspired to cover 200,000 premises. But it’s unclear how far they got with that aspiration before running into difficulties.

ISPreview first started hearing that Gigaloch was struggling last year and their records on Companies House showed that the company was nearly struck off in May 2025. But Gigaloch eventually published their annual accounts for 2024 to reveal a growing problem with losses (not uncommon in this market). Not long after this we learnt that the provider was attempting to reach a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with their creditors. We attempted to contact the provider around this time via their website, but received no response.

Just for some context. A CVA allows a company with debt problems or that is insolvent to reach a voluntary deal with its business creditors (i.e. paying them back over a fixed period), which usually means that the company can continue trading while slowly paying back what they owe. Such an agreement is often preferable to failure, especially if the business is deemed to have a viable foundation, but only time will tell whether this works.

The latest development is that Gigaloch have now published their latest annual accounts to 30th September 2025, which reveals that they have net liabilities of -£3.946m (vs -£2.735m in 2024) and the average monthly number of employees (inc. directors) during the period was 20, which is up from 19 a year earlier.

However, the most interesting detail can be found on page 9 of their accounts, where it states that the “liabilities written off following CVA” amounted to £1,575,090 on 24th July 2025. Quite what the future holds for Gigaloch is currently unclear, but then nobody ever said that rolling out FTTP into remote rural areas was either easy or cheap.

The past few years have seen many network operators come under pressure from competition, rising build costs and high interest rates.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today revealed that yesterday afternoon’s FIFA World Cup 2026 match between England and DR Congo (2 – 1) fuelled the “biggest mobile traffic event ever recorded” on their mobile network, which saw mobile data (broadband) traffic peak 20.38% higher than the prior peak (during the Arsenal vs PSG UEFA Champions League Final) and 27.67% above a comparable pre-tournament week.

The 5pm kick-off naturally coincided with the journey home from work for many, while BBC iPlayer saw traffic surge up 380% compared to a typical weekday afternoon as supporters streamed the match on their phones. O2’s network data also revealed an interesting behavioural shift during the match. After DR Congo took the early lead, activity across apps including TikTok, WhatsApp and Tinder increased, as fans turned to their phones for a distraction. But once the second half got underway and England grabbed an equaliser, usage across all three apps fell as supporters locked back into the action.

However, it’s worth putting that “biggest mobile traffic event ever recorded” claim in the correct context, because demand for data is of course constantly rising and internet connections are forever getting faster, thus new peaks of usage are being set all the time by every provider.

Just for some added context, Ofcom revealed toward the end of 2025 that the average monthly data usage per connection is now 583GB (GigaBytes) across all fixed broadband technologies (up from 531GB in 2024), which rises to an average of 738GB for full-fibre connections (actually down a bit from 766GB).

Breaking news.. more to follow..

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile network operator giffgaff, which is owned by Telefónica and harnesses O2’s national UK virtual operator (mvno) platform, has published their 2025 Impact Report and revealed that eSIM adoption grew by 71% last year – helping more people get connected without the extra plastic – and they’re now home to a total of 4.26 million members (up from 4.11m in 2024).

Some of the report’s other highlights reveal that 66% of the phones giffgaff sold during 2025 via their website were refurbished (down from 67%) and around 17,000 members each month moved to a cheaper plan after opening the operator’s Best Plan Advice email, which is typically sent every month (this shows customers a summary of their recent mobile usage and suggests more cost-effective 4G/5G mobile plans).

The report also notes that 4,310 devices were taken in through the giffgaff recycle scheme (up from 2,649) and they donated 687 phones to help those most in need. You can find plenty more details in the full report below, including giffgaff’s progress on their emissions targets etc.

Giffgaff’s 2025 Impact Report
https://static1.squarespace.com/../Impact_Report_25_v0.8.pdf

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Communications and broadband provider BT Business (via EE) has today announced what they’re calling a “telco-world first“, which sees the operator join with IT and security software company, Ivanti, to unveil a new eSIM capability that enables businesses to turn-on mobile connectivity at scale without having to physically set up a device.

The new capability essentially hands organisations the ability to install eSIMs (embedded SIMs) directly from their Mobile Device Management platform and activate on a device without physical handling or manual steps, which can save time and money when managing thousands of workers at scale.

“Using a single route, devices will either install eSIMs automatically or via a short installation process cutting the time to deliver from days to minutes. The partnership brings together Android’s ecosystem, Ivanti’s management capability and BT’s mobile expertise to offer business customers a consistent method of deployment across their estates,” said the announcement.

The move is said to pave the way for future services built around secure, remotely managed connectivity, giving businesses more flexibility as their workforces, devices and security needs evolve.

Sally Fuller, Mobile and Unified Mobility Director at BT, said:

“Customers want devices that are ready when their people need them. Working with Android and Ivanti has allowed us to create a simple and reliable way to switch on connectivity across Android devices. It removes processes which can slow organisations down and replaces it with a single digital process that works sustainably and at scale.”

The obvious catch here is that this feature currently only works with Android based Smartphones and devices, so hard luck if you’ve setup your business using Apple iOS-based iPhones etc. The announcement doesn’t mention if there are any plans for that.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The FreedomTruespeed Group (Freedom Fibre and Truespeed), which reflects an alternative full fibre (FTTP) broadband network that covers a footprint of 412,000 premises (RFS) and 70,000 customers, have reached an agreement with Stoke-on-Trent City Council (STCC) to provide social homes in the area with access to cheaper social tariffs.

Working alongside associated residential broadband ISP LilaConnect, this initiative will provide tenants with access to affordable broadband packages, including social tariff options for financially stressed households.

In terms of what options those people will have, Eligible STCC tenants will be able to access 150Mbps full fibre broadband for £17.49 per month and 1Gbps full fibre broadband for £27.49 per month, alongside other social tariff options for eligible households. Normal customers currently pay from £19.99 for their 150Mbps tier and from £29.99 for 1Gbps, which rises to £23.49 and £33.49 from month 13 respectively.

The programme forms part of wider efforts to support digital inclusion across the city and help more residents benefit from Stoke-on-Trent’s growing full fibre infrastructure. Naturally, the initial phase of the initiative will focus on properties that are already “Ready for Service” via the alternative network, which is very much the normal thing to do (you can’t usually order anything that’s not RFS).

A Stoke-on-Trent City Council spokesperson said:

“Access to fast, reliable and affordable broadband is essential to modern life. It supports employment opportunities, skills development and access to online services. This will help more of our tenants get online with high-quality connectivity at a discounted price. It’s an important step in reducing digital exclusion and making sure residents across the city are able to participate in an increasingly digital society.”

Nathan Vautier, CEO, Freedom Fibre Group, said:

“We’re proud to continue working alongside Stoke-on-Trent City Council to help more residents benefit from the city’s full fibre infrastructure. Access to reliable and affordable connectivity is increasingly important for everyday life, and this initiative is focused on helping council tenants access full fibre broadband packages, including social tariff options through LilaConnect.”

Residents can find further information, check whether their property is eligible and sign-up via the dedicated Stoke-on-Trent City Council offer page. The council tenant discount will be applied automatically once an eligible address has been confirmed.

Sadly, the operator hasn’t yet decided to make a national Social Tariff available across their network, which is perhaps a little disappointing for the other areas they cover.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Press Release

BT Group and Verizon Communications Inc. have announced the signing of an agreement to combine their respective international enterprise operations into a 50:50 joint venture – in a move that is set to transform international connectivity.

The new joint venture will focus on serving multinational organisations. It is expected to serve more than 3,000 customers across more than 180 countries, representing approximately $4 billion in combined annual revenue. This breadth of operations will unlock significant scale efficiencies across the combined global network and service operations following completion.

Designed specifically for a cloud-first world in the age of AI, the joint venture brings together BT International, which serves multinational customers with secure and resilient communication and network services around the world, with Verizon’s international enterprise wireline arm, which provides secure connectivity to enterprises worldwide. Both BT and Verizon will hold equal voting rights and Verizon has agreed to pay BT an equalisation payment of $625 million.

By combining global scale with infrastructure designed and built to support local compliance and sovereignty needs, the joint venture will create a stronger platform for growth and accelerate the rollout of next-generation connectivity platforms. Customers will benefit from secure and resilient connectivity designed to meet data, operational and regulatory requirements.

At the same time, the parent companies will be better able to focus on their domestic markets, while providing support to the new joint venture as equal shareholders.

BT and Verizon have also today confirmed that Martijn Blanken has been appointed Chief Executive Officer-designate of the new joint venture, conditional on the completion of the transaction. Martijn has almost three decades in senior leadership positions across telecommunications, technology and digital infrastructure at Telstra, Openwave Systems, EXA Infrastructure and KPN, and a career spanning four continents. From 01 September he will join BT and will work with both parent companies, while observing relevant regulatory requirements, as they prepare for the launch of the proposed joint venture.

Clive Selley will continue to lead BT International as CEO, ensuring continuity of BT International’s ongoing transformation in readiness for the creation of the joint venture. Verizon’s leadership remains unchanged.

Allison Kirkby, Chief Executive of BT Group, said: “The world’s leading brands and international organisations trust BT International to connect them across the world. Bringing together this expertise and heritage with Verizon’s deep relationships with multinationals will create a stronger, scaled connectivity partner – one that has the reach, innovation and investment to succeed. Customers will benefit from new, secure and resilient connectivity platforms, which are designed for the age of AI and sovereign where it matters. It will create new opportunities for our people and long-term value for our owners. Today’s announcement marks a major milestone for BT International, and an important step forward for BT as a whole, as we deliver on our UK-focused strategy.”

Dan Schulman, CEO of Verizon, said: “Our international customers require secure, flexible connectivity that works seamlessly across borders and cloud environments. When we thought about how to best support them, this joint venture was the clear answer: a cutting-edge, AI-ready and secure platform run by a single global organization dedicated to their needs. At the same time, our relationship with those customers will stay equally strong as we continue to directly provide them with the connectivity they need in the U.S.”

The transaction is subject to regulatory clearances and consultation with employee representations in countries where required. BT and Verizon’s international businesses will continue to operate independently until the transaction officially closes with a full commitment to their respective customers.

Also in the news
TELUS and L-SPARK give Canadian startups access to AI supercomputer
Belden to acquire RUCKUS Networks for $1.85bn
VMO2 taps Suffolk solar farm for 10 years of clean energy

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