Everflow, which traditionally offers specific utility services to small and medium-sized UK businesses (i.e. water, waste management etc.), has teamed up with communications provider Gamma in order to expand their services into the broadband ISP and phone market.

According to a report on Advanced Television, Everflow are launching the new suit of products in an attempt to simplify and future-proof the communication needs of their customers, while also helping them to move away from older copper-line based products. At present the new services are only available via Openreach’s (BT) national network.

Craig Dallison, CEO of Everflow, said: “Our entry into the connectivity market is a significant milestone in our journey towards becoming a comprehensive multi-utility provider. We are driven by the goal of making utilities simpler for businesses, and having everything under one roof is key to achieving that.”

However, a quick look at Everflow’s website suggests that they’ve been offering such services for at least the past few months, although sadly most of the details are still being hidden away behind a lengthy sign-up form.

Oxfordshire-based alternative broadband network Zzoomm, which has already deployed their 2Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) service to cover 202,000 premises (RFS) in England, has today revealed that their customer base has now grown to 30,000 (up from 25,000 on 23rd April 2024) across 23 towns.

The build has typically been focused on smaller towns in parts Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Wiltshire and Cheshire. But their roll-out was recently stopped in order to focus on growing customer take-up (here and here), which stemmed from the fact that the “capital raising market remains extremely tight in the UK and the cost of capital available remains too high to generate equity returns.”

Despite this their efforts to grow take-up appear to be going reasonably well and the latest figure means that Zzoomm have now established a 15% uptake, which is on a network that has often only been available for an average of just 17 months. But it’s worth noting that Zzoomm still has an aspiration to cover 1 million premises in the future and are now considering a strategy of growth through consolidation (here).

Matthew Hare, CEO of Zzoomm, said:

“We are pleased to be able to serve 30,000 customers and continue to add well over a thousand new customers each month. This is a testament to our passionate customer focus, our sales and marketing effectiveness as well as our premier service.

In June this year, ISPreview stated that their tests for the first half of 2024, showed Zzoomm offers the highest average download speed amongst the Alt Net providers and frankly, across any UK network.

We have established a leading position on customer uptake at 15% on a network which only has been in operation for an average of 17 months.

This is an exceptional start and there remains a huge opportunity for Zzoomm to continue to grow at pace. More Happy Customers please!”

Customers who take their residential service typically pay from £29.95 per month for an unlimited 150Mbps (symmetric speed) package on a 12-month term with an included router, which goes up to £54.95 (normally £64.95) if you want their top 2Gbps tier or £29.95 (usually £39.95) for 1Gbps.

The CEO of network access provider Openreach, Clive Selley, has today called on the new UK Government to help introduce “simple” fixes and reforms that would enable them to expand their gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband ISP network into areas and properties that are still “missing out on upgrades” due to “red tape“.

Openreach have already extended their new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to cover 15 million premises (there are around 32.5m across the UK) and they aim to reach 25 million by December 2026. After that they have also expressed an ambition to reach “up to” 30 million by 2030.

However, the boss of the network access operator has today echoed earlier remarks from the CEO of BT Group, Allison Kirkby, who only a few short months ago highlighted that their ability to expand into some areas and particular properties was being obstructed (here).

Selley similarly warns that “out of date planning rules“, as well as restrictions on their ability to upgrade existing infrastructure inside large residential buildings (MDUs) and the permitting system for street works remain key challenges for their roll-out strategy that could mean “almost a million homes are still in danger of being left behind nationally“.

Clive Selley, Openreach CEO, said:

“Out of date planning rules mean owners must give express permission for upgrades – even when there’s an existing line in place. Sometimes finding landlords – let alone getting their agreement – is a major obstacle.

Already some 990,000 tenants are missing out on our Full Fibre network thanks to this red tape, but ministers have a chance to stop that at no extra cost to the taxpayer. With simple reforms to grant automatic upgrade rights. Ministers can prevent this new digital divide.

At the same time, everyone in the industry would welcome improvements to the local authority street works permitting system. Every year we apply for around 300,000 permits to carry out work on a street-by-street basis. But it’s no secret that the pandemic, global events and economic climate have left local authorities stretched, so it’s common to experience delays to permissions, which have a knock-on effect on broadband upgrades.

To achieve the stretching delivery targets set by Government, applications are likely to double over the next few years, placing a huge and unnecessary bureaucratic burden on everyone involved. A simple fix, at no cost to the taxpayer, would be to introduce flexible permitting – which allows builders to upgrade multiple streets at once.

It could even help deliver much-needed electric charging infrastructure as the country transitions from ICE to EVs.”

Naturally, solving some of these is not quite as easy as Selley makes it sound. For example, the issue of automatic upgrade rights in MDUs sounds fair and logical, but rivals warn that granting special access to Openreach – without also affording opponents a fair level of comparable accessibility – risks handing the incumbent an unfair competitive advantage (here).

The property owners will also have concerns that have to be balanced in all this (i.e. insurance, damage to property, security, safety (e.g. fire, asbestos) and other liabilities etc.), which is because upgrading copper lines to fibre in MDUs is often a bit more involved than it may seem (not minor work) and not everybody may want that. Suffice to say, network operators and the government will be walking a bit of a tightrope in terms of the rights of freeholders and leaseholders.

The second issue of street works permitting is, at least on the surface, much easier to resolve because flexi permits already have wide industry support within the utilities and telecoms sectors. This is where designated areas, rather than individual roads, can be combined into one permit for street works, which cuts time and reduces the costs.

However, the previous government were stalled on this and noted that flexi permits are not supported by everybody, with Highway Authorities often objecting to them. The HAs highlighted issues of rising administration costs, as well as difficulties with coordinating multiple works, overbooking of road space, and the potential loss of control/oversight of some works and practicality etc. In addition, not all utility firms have a good record and there was concern about the potential for this to get worse under flexi permits.

On the other hand, the new government have already set out their desire for more flexibility in the planning system via reform under the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill (here and here), which might make it easier to deploy new digital infrastructure. But it remains to be seen precisely how much of that will actually be of specific benefit to mobile and broadband operators that are seeking to expand and upgrade their networks.

Separately, in terms of mobile infrastructure, operators would still like to see it becoming easier and quicker to install higher masts to improve coverage (and thus also limiting / reducing the overall number of sites needed), together with greater freedoms to deploy smaller sites where greater capacity/infill is needed.

In any case, it will probably take a couple of years for this new bill to run the usual course of debates and studies before implementation, and a lot could happen in that time.

Mobile network operator EE (BT) has today announced that they’ve now deployed over 1,000 small cells (mini radio masts) across the UK, marking 400 new deployments over the last 12 months. But this now includes the provider’s first “trial” 5G (mobile broadband) enabled sites, which have been installed in Croydon (London).

Unlike larger base stations and masts, shoebox sized small cells are only designed to deliver limited coverage over a shorter distance and thus tend to be more focused on busy urban areas (e.g. shopping malls) or specific sites (e.g. airports and ports). But they can also be used to improve coverage in parts of some rural communities. Such kit is often positioned on the side of buildings or street furniture (e.g. lamp posts, CCTV columns and street kiosks etc.).

In the last year, EE has expanded its small cell estate to towns and cities including Cardiff, Dundee, Luton, Norwich and Stoke-on-Trent, as well as continuing to improve capacity in summer hotspots like Torbay and Cumbria. But until now these have only been 4G radios.

However, EE’s first 5G small cells have recently gone live as part of a trial taking place in the London Borough of Croydon. A total of 7 sites, including 4 along Croydon’s London Road – a busy thoroughfare lined with businesses, shops and homes – are now supporting the local community, seeing over 3TB (TeraBytes) of total traffic each day.

Greg McCall, BT Group’s Chief Networks Officer, said:

“Small cells are an integral component within our mobile network, ensuring that even in the busiest places our customers have access to the full performance of the UK’s best network. To reach 1,000 deployments, including our first 5G sites, demonstrates our commitment to delivering unrivalled mobile connectivity to all four corners of the UK.”

Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon, said:

“We’re delighted to be the first town in the UK to be trialling 5G small cells with EE … These 5G small cells will improve the network capacity in high-usage areas, giving faster download speeds for our residents, businesses and visitors.”

According to the operator, their 4G equipped small cells can deliver mobile broadband speeds of “up to” 300Mbps, which rises to 600Mbps on their new 5G kit, although this should be taken with the usual pinch of salt because individual user experiences can vary considerably. But at the time of writing it remains unclear quite how many 5G small cells the operator plans to deploy (post-trial) and over what timeframe.

News

Sale discussions have been ongoing since January 

Investment company Waterland Private Equity has acquired Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MNVO) Lebara for an undisclosed sum. 

Founded in 2001, the company offers SIM-only mobile phone plans to around 4.4 million subscribers UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Denmark. In the UK, it uses Vodafone’s national network to provide its 4G and 5G services. 

Lebara is known for its focus on affordable, no-frills services tailored to the needs of international communities, providing cost-effective options for international calls. Over time, it has expanded its offerings to include mobile voice, data, and messaging services across many countries. 

Current owners Alchemy and Triton Partners took on the company in 2019 and invested €25 million in 2021. Last December, the Financial Times reported the company was considering a possible sale. The group confirmed that it was working with advisors to assess its options. 

“This partnership will provide us with the resources and strategic support needed to accelerate our growth and enhance our service offerings, ultimately benefiting our customers across all our markets,” said Lebara CEO Stephen Shurrock in the announcement’s press release. 

“Lebara has built a strong brand and loyal customer base by providing high-quality mobile telecommunications services at competitive prices,” echoed Wendy McMillan, partner at Waterland Private Equity. 

“We look forward to working closely with the management team to continue on Lebara’s growth journey together, leveraging our expertise in the telecommunications sector,” she continued. 

The deal is subject to standard regulatory approval. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter

Also in the news:
Openreach wins new Project Gigabit contract to expand rural broadband
Connected Britain returns to London to celebrate its 10th anniversary 
Mobile UK launches Better Connected Rural campaign 

News

This will be the first time that Wales will benefit from the project 

The UK government announced up to £800 million of funding to Openreach, to bring gigabit-capable broadband to 312,000 premises across the UK via Building Digital UK (BDUK). The initiative is part of ongoing efforts to improve digital infrastructure in rural areas. 

The agreement, worth up to £800 million, was finalised in June 2024 following an open procurement process. The focus of this partnership is on rural regions that have not been included in existing commercial broadband rollouts due to limited interest or capacity from other providers. 

Project Gigabit is a £5 billion UK government initiative aimed at expanding gigabit-capable broadband, particularly in rural and remote areas. The project focuses on closing the digital divide by bringing high-speed internet to regions that are unlikely to be served by commercial providers. 

With significant government funding, the project partners with broadband providers, like Openreach, to extend infrastructure to these “hard-to-reach” areas. By improving digital connectivity, Project Gigabit supports economic growth, future-proofs the UK’s digital infrastructure, and ensures widespread access to fast internet. The rollout is phased, targeting the most underserved areas first. 

The framework will support multiple call-off contracts, each targeting clusters of premises in different parts of the UK. The first two contracts have been awarded: 

Call-Off 1: Covering 54,300 premises in areas including Lancashire, North Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire, West and Mid Surrey, Staffordshire, West Berkshire, and Hertfordshire, with a contract value of £149.7 million. 

Call-Off 2: Addressing 42,200 premises in West and North Devon, as well as North West, Mid, and South East Wales, with a contract value of £139.1 million. 

Further procurement processes are underway to expand coverage under this agreement. 

“At the moment we have too many people, especially in the more remote areas, of Wales who can’t properly access the online world, and I’m pleased that thanks to this substantial investment from the UK Government work, on fixing that is starting now,” said Jo Stevens, Secretary of State for Wales in the annoucement. 

BDUK will work with local councils and Openreach to begin the necessary infrastructure work, such as trench digging and fibre installation. The first premises are expected to have access to gigabit-capable broadband by early 2025. Once the network is established, residents and businesses will be able to connect to the improved service through their broadband providers. 

Join the conversation around the UK’s broadband infrastructure by attending Connected Britain, 11-12 September in London. Get discounted tickets here! 

Also in the news:
NTT to launch new AI company ‘NTT AI-CIX’
Thousands of kms of fibre could be left underutilised warns asset reuse specialist
IOH launches Southeast Asia’s largest digital intelligence operations centre

NEWS

London, UK – Connected Britain, the UK’s biggest digital economy event, is returning to London as it celebrates its 10th anniversary

Hosted by telecoms media and events specialist Total Telecom, this year’s event will welcome 7,500 attendees from over 2,000 organisations, including 100 tech and digital startups exhibiting in its largest ever startup village. 

Across two action-packed days, the event will feature 350 speakers covering twelve key themes, including the UK’s journey to becoming a tech leader, achieving truly ubiquitous connectivity, and the digital divide. The conference will feature CXO interviews with some of the world’s most recognised companies, as well as a spotlight on local authorities who are the driving force behind some of the country’s most exciting technology trials. 

Key speakers at this year’s event include: 

– Marc Allera, CEO, EE & Consumer Division – BT Group 

– Phil Siveter, Chief Executive Officer, UK& Ireland – Nokia 

– Iain Milligan, Chief Network Officer – Three UK 

– Greg Mesch, Founder & Chief Executive Officer – CityFibre  

– Dame Melanie Dawes, Chief Executive – Ofcom 

“We’re absolutely delighted to be celebrating the ten-year anniversary of Connected Britain,” said Total Telecom Managing Director Rob Chambers. “We’ve come a long way from our first event back in 2015 which welcomed just a few hundred attendees – we’re now the UK’s largest digital economy event, which is a testament to the advancements and collaborative spirit within the industry. Connected Britain is not just a conference, it’s an essential platform for driving progress and building a more connected future for all.” 

On the evening of day one, the Connected Britain Awards will recognise the most significant and innovative organisations, solutions, and programmes that are shaping Britain’s digital future. The day one official afterparty: Connected After Hours, is an unmissable evening of fun that will cement and develop new relationships for event attendees over complimentary drinks and live music. 

For more information or to register to attend Connected Britain 2024, visit: https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/connected-britain/index.stm  

——- 

Since 1997, Total Telecom has provided the connection between the buyers and sellers in the global telecom market. We do this through high quality editorial content and events to facilitate discussion on industry issues, and recognise innovation and excellence by companies and individuals.   

Our community of 120,000+ telecom professionals rely on Total Telecom for daily news and regular in-depth insight, delivered through a number of channels including online, video, social media, and at our series of events.  

Our award-winning event portfolio includes, Broadband Communities Summit, the World Communication Awards, Connected North, Connected Germany, and the UK’s largest connectivity event Connected Britain.   

Alchemy has this morning announced that they’re selling their Pan-European mobile operator business, LebaraGroup B.V, to Waterland Private Equity for an undisclosed sum. In the UK, Lebara is a virtual mobile operator (MVNO) that harnesses Vodafone’s national network to deliver 4G and 5G services (calls, text and mobile broadband).

Lebara currently offers similar mobile services to 4.4 million subscribers (up from 2.4m in 2019) across the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France and Denmark. Alchemy’s journey with Lebara began in 2018 when, following a “period of underperformance under prior ownership“, they identified an opportunity to acquire the business and have since led it through a period of transformation.

The business’ profitability and customer base has broadly doubled during Alchemy’s ownership, but now the reins are being passed to a new home.

Ian Cash and Alex Leicester of Alchemy said:

“Stephen and his team have done a fabulous job at repositioning Lebara and delivering substantial growth for the business, particularly in the UK where Lebara is the fastest growing player in the mobile telecommunications value segment.

The business has been truly transformed since our first investment in 2018 and we are grateful to Stephen and the team for their outstanding contribution to Lebara over the last 4 years – they have been a pleasure to work with. We have no doubt that Lebara will continue to go from strength to strength over the coming years under Waterland’s ownership.”

Stephen Shurrock, CEO of Lebara, said:

“It has also been our pleasure to work with Alchemy over the last few years. They have been hugely supportive of the Lebara turnaround, and have invested in the company to achieve significant growth. With Alchemy’s investment Lebara has repositioned itself and now has the latest digital platform, a focus on customer experience and is one of the fastest growing mobile businesses in Europe. They have also invested in people and upskilling the business.

Today Lebara is a strong business with a leading management team that will continue the strong growth story into the future. On a personal level I would like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to Alchemy, their trust, support and encouragement has meant a lot to me and the management team as we have worked through the company transformation.”

The sale, which is pending regulatory approval, is aiming to deliver a strong return on investment for Alchemy’s investors.

Network operator Freedom Fibre, which claims to have already rolled out a 10Gbps capable full fibre broadband (XGS-PON / FTTP) network to cover 300,000 premises across England (27th Mar 2024), has today revealed that they’ve grown their customer base to 20,000 in the North West and West Midlands of England.

The announcement represents the first time we’ve had any solid customer figures from the operator, which reflects additions across deployment locations such as Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe, Leek, Urmston, Northwich and Whitchurch etc. This clearly factors in their recent acquisition of the previously InfraBridge-backed VX UK Holdings ltd (VXFIBER) last year (here).

We should point out that Freedom Fibre also holds the state aid supported £24m Project Gigabit contract to roll-out full fibre broadband across “around” 12,000 hard-to-reach premises in rural parts of Shropshire (here), as well as the £43m contract to reach 15,000 similar premises in Cheshire (here).

Customers can typically order broadband packages on FF’s network via partner ISPs such as TalkTalk, LilaConnect, Squirrel Internet, Fusion Fibre, MTH and Beebu etc.

Marie Danby, Customer Operations Director at Freedom Fibre, said:

“Thanks to our hard-working team, the cooperation of communities and local leadership, we have been able to successfully deliver our high-speed network cost-effectively whilst maintaining our high level of customer service. This is just the start of our journey to make full-fibre, high speed broadband available to everyone.”

In terms of gauging take-up, the press release somewhat confusingly states that “the business works to build to over 300,000 premises“, which makes the 300k figure sound more like a target than the way it’s been referenced before (i.e. as pre-existing coverage, post-merger). But crucially, it’s unclear how many of those premises are ‘Ready for Service’ (RFS), which is hard to gauge until the VXFIBER network is fully integrated and all ISPs have the same availability.

The Government claims to have kicked off a “renewed push” today to “reach full gigabit [broadband] coverage by 2030“, which they’ve done by announcing that Openreach (BT) has secured several contracts under the £5bn Project Gigabit scheme. This could eventually be worth up to £800m (state aid) and may upgrade 312,000 premises in remote rural areas of Scotland, England and Wales.

Project Gigabit has been running for the past few years and aims to extend networks capable of delivering download speeds of 1000Mbps+ (1Gbps) and uploads of 200Mbps+ to 85% or more of UK premises by the end of 2025 (it’s currently c.84%), before rising to “nationwide” coverage (c.99%) by around 2030 (here). But commercial builds are delivering most of this, while public money remains focused on the final 10-20% of poorly served premises.

Most of the related contracts (Type A – Local scale and Type B – Regional scale) under Project Gigabit’s Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) scheme have already been awarded for much of England. All of these have gone to smaller alternative networks (altnets) like Cityfibre, GoFibre, Wessex Internet, Gigaclear and various other providers.

However, the project has also had to create a number of Cross-Regional (Type C) procurements, which were focused on areas where no or no appropriate market interest had been expressed before to the Government’s umbrella Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency, or areas that have been descoped or terminated from a prior plan.

Such areas are often skipped due to being too expensive (difficult) for smaller suppliers to tackle. Due to this Type C’s can only really be delivered by operators of some scale and are intended to cover a much wider area. Back in May 2024 we revealed that Openreach (BT) had been named as the preferred bidder for all of these (here) and thus today’s announcement is the logical outcome of that.

What’s been awarded?

The official announcement is a bit generalised, but it states that “up to” £800 million in government investment will be made available to modernise broadband infrastructure for 312,000 premises in rural areas of England, Scotland and Wales as part of the new deal with Openreach. Just to be clear, this figure was first stated for Type C procurements back in 2022 (here) and forms part of the overall budget for Project Gigabit.

However, it’s important to stress that Openreach hasn’t yet won all of the Type C procurements (it’s just a matter of time), thus the figure of 312,000 premises and £800m being headline today is more a reflection of what they’re expected to secure over the coming months. Instead, today’s announcement only confirms that Openreach have secured the first two out of six Type C contracts.

The deal today means that premises in remote areas of Britain, such as the South Wales Valleys, Exmoor National Park and the Forest of Bowland will finally gain access to gigabit broadband. This is also the first time that Wales, the nation with the lowest percentage of gigabit coverage, will benefit from this programme.

Today’s Contract Awards for Openreach

Type C (Call Off 1): Lancashire (Lot 9C), North Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire (Lot 30C) , West and Mid -Surrey (Lot 22C), Staffordshire (Lot 19C), West Berkshire (Lot 13C) and Hertfordshire (Lot 26C)
Premises: 57,100 * (final contracted 54,300)
Value: £149.7m

Type C (Call Off 2): West and North Devon (Lot 6C) , North West Wales, Mid Wales (Lot 43C) and South East Wales (Lot 44C)
Premises: 47,100 * (final contracted 42,200)
Value: £139.1m

* The figures above are from Project Gigabit’s April 2024 estimate and thus the final contract details are slightly different.

According to today’s announcement, both contracts – worth £288 million – have been signed with Openreach and aim to connect approximately 96,600 homes and businesses in England and, for the first time, Wales. This is slightly less than the originally forecast total of both contracts (c.104,000 premises). In any case, the first premises under these contracts are anticipated to have access to gigabit-capable broadband in “early 2025“.

Take note that Call Off 2 will benefit parts of the following constituencies in Wales: Arfon, Clwyd South, Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Ceredigion, Montgomeryshire, Brecon and Radnorshire, Monmouth, Torfaen, Newport West, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Cardiff North, Cardiff Central, Cardiff West, Cardiff South and Penarth, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Ogmore, Islwyn, Pontypridd, Cynon Valley, Rhondda, Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend, Neath, Aberavon, Swansea East, Swansea West, Gower.

Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for DSIT, said:

“Over the past decade, the UK’s broadband rollout has clearly not happened fast enough and has overlooked too many areas, especially in Scotland and Wales. Robust digital infrastructure is essential for growth, productivity and competitiveness and this shortfall not only poses risks to our economic stability, but also entrenches existing inequalities across the country.

We are fixing this by delivering for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses up and down the country, focusing on the areas that were not prioritised by the previous government, such as Wales.

Today marks a significant milestone in delivering on our promise to redouble our efforts to achieve full gigabit coverage by 2030 and lay the foundations for a more inclusive, dynamic and prosperous future for all citizens.”

Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said:

“Research shows that full fibre provides a host of economic, social and environmental benefits – and I believe we’re the best in the business at delivering it. I’m proud we’ve been chosen, through a fiercely competitive process, and we’re already cracking on with the job.

This is a British infrastructure success story. Our network already reaches more than 15 million urban and rural premises and, wherever we build, we bring the widest choice of providers for customers. I’m confident we can reach as many as 30 million homes by the end of the decade if the conditions remain supportive.”

Jo Stevens, Secretary of State for Wales, said:

“At the moment we have too many people, especially in the more remote areas, of Wales who can’t properly access the online world, and I’m pleased that thanks to this substantial investment from the UK Government work, on fixing that is starting now.”

Talks are now said to be “underway with Openreach to agree further contracts” to benefit around 215,800 more premises across England, Scotland and Wales, with more announcements expected in the “coming months“. This reflects the following ongoing Type C procurements.

Remaining Type C Procurements

Type C (Call Off 3): East and South Shropshire, North Herefordshire, North Wales, and South West Wales
Est. Premises: 49,600
Est. Value: £136.1m

Type C (Call Off 4): Mid Devon, North Somerset, and South Devon
Est. Premises: 23,300
Est. Value: £69.8m

Type C (Call Off 5): Essex and North East England
Est. Premises: 22,100
Est. Value: £61.3m

Type C (Call Off 6): Central and North Scotland
Est. Premises: 96,900
Est. Value: £207.4m

In terms of Wales specifically, the government says this means that – once all the related Type C contracts have been awarded – a total of around £170m of public money will go toward extending gigabit-capable broadband to benefit around 70,000 hard-to-reach Welsh homes and businesses. But the exact details of Call Off 3 – 6 won’t be known until they’ve been officially awarded, which is expected by around the end of this year.

The announcement builds on work already underway through other Project Gigabit contracts to build faster networks for up to 910,000 hard-to-reach premises across England. Dozens of contracts representing more than £1.9bn worth of public investment have now been signed with 11 suppliers to deliver the upgrades.

However, the new Government is perhaps being a bit disingenuous in parts of this announcement, such as by claiming that this is all part of Labour’s pre-election commitment to “make a renewed push to fulfil the ambition of full gigabit and national 5G coverage by 2030” (here). But much as we said above, there’s nothing particularly new about today’s announcement, which has been in the pipeline since well before the election.

UPDATE 7:03am

We’ve updated some of the totals with the final contracted figures for call-off 1 and 2 above. In addition, Openreach successfully bid for these to adopt the single supplier framework (here), which means any future fibre build delivered through the framework doesn’t have to go through another competitive process each time (i.e. later extension projects and infill in these areas will be easier to agree). You can see a rough image of the related build for each area below:

Call-off 2 – South East Wales (Lot 44C) 
Call-off 2 – North West and Mid Wales (Lot 43C)
Call-off 2 – West and North Devon (Lot 6C)
Call-off 1 – North Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire (Lot 30C)
Call-off 1 – Hertfordshire (Lot 26C)
Call-off 1 – West and Mid Surrey (Lot 22C)
Call-off 1 – Staffordshire (Lot 19C)
Call-off 1 – West Berkshire (Lot 13C)
Call-off 1 – Lancashire (Lot 9C)