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Eastbourne-based alternative internet provider Lightning Fibre, which is building a full fibre (FTTP) network across Sussex and Kent in England (they also hold a partnership to use CityFibre’s wider UK network – here), has reached a key take-up milestone by surpassing 20,000 customers – reflecting a quarter of homes taking up broadband across their new network.

The company says this growth reflects “sustained demand for a simple, fixed price, human-centric approach to delivering broadband“, one they say contrasts well with national providers who often annoy customers by applying multiple in-contract price increases in a way that’s rarely seen as fair.

According to the company’s most recent results to the end of March 2025, Lighting Fibre has so far built their full fibre network to cover 80,000 premises (RFS), which aligns with the announcement’s claim of “achieving 1 in 4 homes taking up broadband“. But it also suggests that they’re network roll-out hasn’t expanded much in the past 18 months or so, and we don’t know how many of that 20k come from the CityFibre (off-net) side.

“Lightning Fibre remains focused on sustainable growth, expanding network availability, enhancing its product offering and continuously improving the customer experience,” added the announcement.

Bertrand Mazieres, CEO at Lightning Fibre, said:

“Achieving 25% residential take-up in this highly competitive market shows that our approach resonates with customers. People want broadband that simply works, at a fair price, with local support they can rely on. And that’s exactly what the team delivers every day – with more than 9 in 10 of our Trustpilot reviews rated 5 stars. Thank you to all our customers for buying local and joining the Lightning Fibre family.”

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Alternative network operator and UK ISP Highland Broadband (Lothian Broadband), which is deploying a 10Gbp capable full fibre (FTTP) network across various rural parts of Scotland, has discounted their 1000Mbps (symmetric) speed package to just £34.99 per month on a 24-month term and reduced their 5Gbps tier to £49.99 (inc. £100 gift card).

Customers of the service can typically expect to receive unlimited usage, free installation, a Wi-Fi 6 wireless router (Wi-Fi 7 on their 5Gbps package), 24/7 network monitoring, a 28 day cooling off period, up to 12 months’ worth of Switching Credit to help you join while still under contract with your old ISP and the option to add Whole Home Wi-Fi for £10/month (free on their 5Gbps plan).

Customers of their 1Gbps and 5Gbps packages also receive Dynamic Parental Controls and Advanced Cyber Security features, but take note that Highland Broadband also applies a pricing policy like the big ISPs that hikes your monthly prices by £4 in April each year. Otherwise, their packages currently start at £29.99 per month for speeds of 150Mbps.

The provider’s network can currently be found across around 150 rural Scottish towns and villages in parts of Argyll, Fife, the Highlands, Lothians, Moray and Stirlingshire.

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London-focused UK ISP Vorboss, which has deployed and operates a 100Gbps speed fibre optic network for businesses in the UK’s capital city, has just connected their new infrastructure to businesses and research organisations located inside the One Triton Square building at Regent’s Place – each floor will be able to access their top speeds.

Just to recap. The operator has so far completed the deployment of a 900km long dedicated point-to-point fibre optic network across Central London (covering most of zones 1 and 2) and a few areas beyond – connecting businesses, landlords, and commercial buildings across the city.

In terms of today’s announcement, the ‘British Land and Royal London Asset Management’ building provides more than 300,000 sq ft of purpose-built space, bringing together fitted laboratories, flexible workspace, offices, and shared meeting and event space. But more buildings under the same group may well follow in the future.

Rhod Morgan, Co-CEO of Vorboss, said:

“Connecting One Triton Square with 100Gbps gives its occupiers the capacity they need not only for the way they work today, but for the technologies and opportunities that come next. It perfectly complements the vision British Land and Royal London Asset Management had for the building – a space designed around the needs of ambitious, innovation-led organisations.

One Triton Square sits at the centre of London’s science and technology ecosystem, and we’re incredibly proud to be providing the infrastructure it needs to thrive.”

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We’re playing late catch-up today with the latest company results for Rochdale-based ISP Zen Internet, which reveal that the venerable UK internet provider grew their broadband customer base to 225,000 at the end of Sept 2025 (up from 208k in 2024) and saw operating profit jump from £1.9m to £3m – partly fuelled by the sale of some IPv4 address blocks.

The company’s full year revenues increased by 5% to £127m (2024: £121m), while EBITDA (i.e. earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) grew to £7.1m (2024: £5.7m), Zen’s net assets totalled £30.3m (2024: £28.4m) and their gross profit grew by 17.2% (2024: 19.9%).

The reduction in gross profit compared with 2024 is largely down to the fact that Zen’s supply chain costs of providing their services have risen, but the ISP didn’t pass most of that on to their customers due to their price promise guarantees (bigger ISPs rarely do the same). Zen has also faced some costs from migrating end-users away from legacy copper services to “lower margin full fibre” lines.

Otherwise, Zen said much of the growth in their consumer broadband base (up 15%) came from newer full fibre services and their partnership with CityFibre. On the flip side some customer losses were recorded in their business and partner divisions, which meant the overall broadband base grew by 8% (this is still up from 5% in 2024).

The improvement in EBITDA and operating profit is more interesting, since this is said to be the “result of the profit on disposal of £4.8m made on the sale of IPv4 address blocks and income from [alternative network] integration arrangements of £1.3m (2024 – £0.2m).” This perhaps give context to some of Zen’s recent IP address migrations (here).

Zen are reinvesting this into their technology resources, AltNet aggregation work (Fibre Hub), greater use of AI and customer self-serve applications. Some £2.1m of capital was invested by Zen into its core business in the year (2024: £2.9m).

Finally, Zen’s results revealed that the operator had a total staff count of 569, which is unchanged from the previous year.

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Broadband, phone and TV provider Virgin Media (O2) has this morning announced that customers of their pay TV service, at least those on their Virgin TV360 and IP-based Stream (Flex) platforms, can now access a brand-new channel that offers viewers 24/7 access to Tennis content “at no extra cost” – including live coverage of some of the sport’s biggest competitions.

The somewhat self-descriptive ‘Tennis Channel‘ is available to Virgin TV customers directly via their set-top box on channel 542 and will provide them with access to live coverage of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, as well as the ATP Challenger Tour, with live coverage beginning on Tuesday 18th August, and the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS). Plus there are exclusive interviews, player profiles and magazine shows etc.

The new addition joins the existing 40 streaming channels available on Virgin TV. Andy Reif, SVP International and Programming at Tennis Channel, said: “We’re thrilled to bring world-class tennis coverage to millions of UK fans through this new partnership with Virgin Media O2. “This marks another milestone in Tennis Channel’s ongoing international growth and reinforces our commitment to delivering the best tennis coverage to fans everywhere.”

Tennis Channel rights include:

1. PREMIER COUNTRY vs COUNTRY COMPETITIONS

• UNITED CUP
• DAVIS CUP
• BILLIE JEAN KING CUP
• HOPMAN CUP

2. ATP & WTA UK GRASS COURT EVENTS

• ATP 500 QUEEN’S (HSBC CHAMPIONSHIPS)
• WTA 500 QUEEN’S (HSBC CHAMPIONSHIPS)
• ATP & WTA BIRMINGHAM
• ATP & WTA ILKLEY
• WTA 250 & ATP NOTTINGHAM
• WTA & ATP 250 EASTBOURNE

3. ATP CHALLENGER TOUR

35 events from January to November

4. ULTIMATE TENNIS SHOWDOWN

4 events:

• GUADALAJARA
• NÎMES
• HONG KONG
• LONDON

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Network analyst firm Streetwave have published the results from a new study they’ve just conducted, which examined the mobile network coverage and mobile broadband (4G, 5G) performance of EE, Vodafone, Three UK and O2 across the entire M4 motorway from Cardiff to London – a 127-minute journey.

The live and admittedly somewhat anecdotal study, which used Streetwave’s portable network measurement and monitoring kit placed in a Toyota Aygo on 3rd August 2026, found that “most” of the mobile operators delivered high levels of ‘Basic Coverage‘ along the M4 motorway (see below for the definition). The M4 is the third-longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from West London to Southwest Wales

Streetwave typically defines Basic Coverage as reflecting locations where the mobile network provides users with data speeds of above 1Mbps download, 0.5Mbps upload, and below 100ms (milliseconds) of latency (i.e. supporting only the most basic of use cases or needs).

Overall EE delivered the strongest result and were closely followed by Vodafone and Three UK, while O2 were by far the poorest. Most of the poor coverage areas for the latter came in multiple smaller segments as opposed to long stretches – particularly between Swindon and Reading.

M4 Motorway – Mobile Basic Coverage Scores

➤ EE – 97%
➤ Vodafone – 95%
➤ Three UK – 93%
➤ O2 – 78%

Time each network fell below the ‘Basic Coverage’ threshold

➤ EE – 4 minutes
➤ Vodafone – 6 minutes
➤ Three UK – 9 minutes
➤ O2 – 28 minutes

Such figures are useful for business travellers who may need to make calls or passengers who want to use the mobile broadband connectivity on their devices. But in that respect it would have been nice to see the ‘Good Coverage’ scores for each operator too, which set a higher performance bar for data connectivity.

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News

Vodafone says it’s using its £11bn UK network expansion to help people unlock career and personal goals

Telecom operator Vodafone is leveraging its £11 billion UK network investment to bridge the country’s digital opportunity gap, according to an announcement last Thursday by the firm.

The company says more than half (55%) of Britons say digital tools make it easier to find career and personal opportunities, with 42% stating improved mobile connectivity has directly helped them achieve key goals.

To support digital inclusion, Vodafone opened an “Opportunity Hub” on 6 August. The initiative sits alongside the group’s infrastructure expansion, which includes eliminating 16,500 square kilometres of mobile not-spots to support public ambitions.

The research revealed that 85% of Britons are pursuing a major life goal but wait an average of two years before acting, Vodafone said. Meanwhile, financial constraints (22%) and unreliable connectivity were cited as key hurdles, particularly for prospective entrepreneurs.

“Britain isn’t short of ambition. The challenge is turning ambition into action,” a Vodafone spokesperson said, noting that access to reliable network coverage remains vital to helping individuals seize new opportunities.

Some AI tools assisted in the crafting of this report.

The post Vodafone touts latest attempt to bridge the UK’s digital divide appeared first on Total Telecom.

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Bolton-based electrical appliances’ retailer AO.com has today become the latest UK company to try their hand at launching their own 4G and 5G virtual mobile network operator (mvno) with AO Mobile, which reflects a new partnership with Vodafone. Not that the market needed another one, but you’ve got it now anyway.

AO Mobile will support both physical SIMs and eSIM functionality from launch, which makes it a bit more sophisticated than the myriad of eSIM-only providers that have been popping up from every direction in recent months. But at launch the service will only offer a single SIM-only plan called Ultimate 500GB.

The 30-day rolling plan is priced at £12 a month for AO members and £18 a month for non-members. As you might expect this will get you unlimited UK calls and texts, a 500GB monthly data allowance (this is pretty close to the soft Fair Usage cap that many mobile operators apply to “unlimited data” plans), 15GB of inclusive EU roaming allowance and “99% UK population coverage with access to fast and reliable 5G“.

Customers can also add up to 9 additional SIMs under the same account, making the service suitable for individuals and families alike.

AO’s Founder and CEO, John Roberts, said:

“We’ve been disrupting the status quo since 2000 to make things better, simpler, and cheaper for customers. We want to remove complexity and keep mobile simple so that it’s easy for customers to understand. Our pricing is transparent, our contracts are flexible, and our prices are fixed.

For AO, this feels like the right approach because a mobile phone is so central and critical to everyday life. AO Mobile simplifies everything with just one tariff. AO members get 500GB for only £12 including 15GB of EU Roaming every month. No gimmicks, no price rises in the first 12 months, no surprises and a rolling 30 day contract.

It is typical AO value. We don’t need to tie you in because you’ll never want to leave. It is simply amazing value, which is why AO is the most trusted electrical retailer.”

The catch, if you can call it such, is that to benefit from the lowest pricing mentioned above you need to be an AO member and membership typically costs £39.99 per year. Otherwise, at £18 a month, the price is still good for a 30-day plan, although giffgaff and iD Mobile, among others, can do similar without the need for an additional membership.

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The decision by alternative broadband operator Netomnia (Substantial Group) to significantly scale-back their roll-out of full fibre (FTTP) broadband across the UK, which was recently followed by another round of redundancies (here), needs to be tempered against the fact that their retail ISP – YouFibre – are now busy hiring lots of new staff.

Netomnia has certainly had quite a busy year so far. At the last count the operator’s 7-8Gbps speed broadband network had already covered over 3 million UK premises (inc. 500,000 customers) and they were initially still expanding at pace. But the combination of wider market pressures and nexfibre’s (some shared parentage with Virgin Media and O2) agreement to buy Netomnia, which is still subject to an ongoing competition review, was later followed by a bit of a change in strategy.

Since then, Netomnia has been reducing their roll-out, which is also partly what fuelled some of the recent redundancies. But like many other vertically integrated altnets they’ve responded to this challenge by focusing on greater commercialisation, which has involved hiring a sizeable number of new sales agents on the YouFibre (retail) side of the business.

YouFibre has never stopped hiring, although a quick check of their careers feed by ISPreview (credits to Shaukat for the tip) identifies that they’re now in the process of seeking to recruit around 80 or so sales agents across the various localities they service (many of them described as being full-time “Door to Door Sales Executives“); that’s a fairly significant amount of local and regional sales staff. Some good news then, after the recent job cuts in their network business.

The above is of course to be expected from a commercialisation strategy and, now that Netomnia have switched to focus more on retail growth, we should also start to see take-up climb at a much stronger rate than before. Of course, this may become a moot point once the nexfibre deal gets clearance (assuming that to be the outcome), as the retail base will eventually be merged into VMO2’s figures.

The group’s most recent results to the end of Q4 2025 revealed that their revenues had increased to £104m (up 168% year-on-year) and they were delivering positive adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of £5m (up from £0.3m in Q3). However, Netomnia’s prior network build also meant that their Net Debt had grown by 69% in the year to total £905m (debt drawn to date including accrued interest less cash), which is up from £801m in Q3.

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Mobile infrastructure firm Cornerstone (CTIL), which was originally established as part of a UK network sharing deal between O2 (Virgin Media) and Vodafone (Vantage Towers), has expanded their partnership with Telecom Infrastructure Partners (TIP) to improve how they manage and renew existing telecommunications site agreements (wayleaves etc.).

The change is said to involve establishing a “more streamlined approach” to managing and renewing telecommunications site agreements across TIP’s portfolio, helping to “reduce complexity, improve collaboration and provide greater certainty for infrastructure providers and landowners“. But they don’t explain how this will work.

According to TIP, this should mean that CTIL spends less time managing administrative complexity and more time investing in their critical mobile infrastructure. Meanwhile, landowners have been told to expect a “more open, collaborative process centred on lasting relationships and mutual trust,” although in reality this may struggle to overcome the usual disputes over rental payments and site access etc.

The press release is quite wordy but doesn’t include a lot of useful detail or any comments from the leadership of either organisation, so we’ll leave it at that.