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The CEO of network access provider Openreach (BT), Clive Selley, has warned Ofcom and the UK Government that he is “going to hold fire” on seeking approval for the final phase of the operator’s plan to deploy full fibre (FTTP) based broadband ISP technology to 30 million premises. At least until the regulator and tax environment show themselves to be favourable.

At present Openreach is investing up to £15bn to expand the coverage of their new “full fibre” network to 25 million premises by December 2026 (here), which will include around 6.2m in rural or semi-rural areas. In addition, they’ve long expressed an ambition to reach “up to” 30m by 2030 (there are c.33m in the UK), which is often said to be partly dependent upon a favourable outcome from Ofcom’s next Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR) and government policy (planning and taxation etc.).

However, the news has recently been full of stories from senior figures at BT (as well as rivals like Virgin Media), most of whom have been complaining about the threat from a huge rise in business rates potentially impacting their plans (here and here). In response, Openreach’s boss also seems to now be warning that this, when combined with Ofcom potentially choosing not to soften their regulation enough (i.e. to reflect an increase in market competition), could result in the operator having to shelve or scale-back their plans for reaching 30m premises.

Clive Selley, Openreach CEO, said (FT):

“I’m going to hold fire getting approvals for that final 5mn tranche [of homes] until I see what comes out of the TAR.

If I can’t see where the regulation is going to land then I can’t articulate the business case [internally] and therefore that business case goes on hold until we see the final wording.

These are worrying times for the UK because, as the only credible builder for the last tranche of homes … it’s incumbent on us to keep the programme going”

No doubt some of Openreach’s rivals in the alternative network space, which would very much welcome the operator’s surrender of their build targets and retreating from costly rural deployments, may take exception to the incumbent describing themselves as “the only credible builder” for such premises. But in fairness they are the only large-scale builder in rural areas, with others like B4RN, Gigaclear, GoFibre, Quickline etc. tending to operate at a much smaller scale.

The risk for Openreach and BT, as hinted above, is that any weakening of their ambitions might risk leaving them at more of a competitive disadvantage in those rural areas. On the other hand, most of their rivals in the alternative network space are currently under heavy pressure from wider economic conditions (i.e. they may lack the ability to pick up the slack), particularly given how many of them have had to slow or stop their own builds.

As usual, there is a difficult balance act to be performed. The government needs to generate more money to fill holes in its next budget, while Ofcom has to consider the many vested interests of different market players and network operators have to figure out how they can continue building or pay investors back, without such projects becoming unviable (some may already be at risk of this).

Finally, it’s worth remembering that Clive Selley is technically not saying anything new, since Openreach have always pegged their plans for reaching “up to” 30m premises with FTTP on a favourable outcome from the TAR. But that was before the threat of much higher business rates entered the room, which adds another challenge.

The government have already had to put their Project Gigabit target – for reaching 99% of the UK with gigabit broadband – back from 2030 to 2032, but it’s now not impossible that this may end up having to be put back even further if they aren’t careful.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica, which forms part of the joint venture that controls broadband and mobile operators Virgin Media and O2 UK, has today announced the outcome of their recent Strategic Review and set out the six pillars underpinning their new five-year strategic plan. This includes consolidation and retaining the UK as one of their core markets.

In case anybody has forgotten. Telefonica and Liberty Global control VMO2 in the UK as part of a 50/50 joint venture. On top of that, Telefonica also hold a 25% stake in complementary broadband network nexfibre, alongside Liberty Global, with both companies sharing the other 50% of the £4.5bn joint venture, which is owned by the private equity firm InfraVia Capital Partners.

At the start of 2025 everything appeared to be progressing normally and nexfibre was on their way to reaching 5 million premises by the end of 2026. However, as previously reported (here), the nexfibre build suffered a big hit in the spring after debt stricken JV partner Telefonica launched a Strategic Review.

The review caused Virgin Media to take a different approach to opening up their existing broadband network to wholesale (here) and also appeared to stall nexfibre’s roll-out; the planned deployment for 2025 was scaled back from 3 to 2.5 million premises and the roll-out beyond this has been placed into uncertainty.

More recently, the CEO of Telefónica, Marc Murtra, has indicated that he viewed growing scale through buying telecom assets (consolidation and control) as part of his thinking for the future. One such option proposed in the media could even see Telefonica make a play for Liberty Global’s 50% stake in Virgin Media or do something similar with nexfibre. But to do that would require fresh capital, which is not an easy proposition in today’s market. Equally, the operator could support a joint push to consolidate one of their broadband rivals, such as Netomnia (here), which would come with a few caveats.

What’s in Telefonica’s 5-year plan?

The plan doesn’t spell out precisely what Telefonica intends to do in the UK in terms of consolidation, but it does confirm that they will remain focused on the country as one of their “core markets” alongside Spain, Germany, and Brazil — aimed at positioning the operator as a “world-class European telco with profitable scale“.

The plan then talks about adopting a simplified operating model, before acknowledging that investment in the wider telecoms market has been “inefficient due to the operators’ lack of scale when compared to the US and Chinese markets“.

“While it does not include consolidation opportunities, the plan means that Telefónica will be fully prepared to seize any that may arise to create value for shareholders,” said the announcement. On this point there’s some talk about “seizing opportunities in the UK” and the company estimates that a “potential consolidation within its core markets could generate synergies worth between €18–22 billion“. So clearly there’s a consolidation mindset at play.

Telefonica’s Six Pillars (Europe)

➤ Deliver the best in-class customer experience, Telefónica will enhance network performance and customer care across all channels. Service excellence and customer experience are key, and the company plans significant investment in Artificial Intelligence to strengthen both.

➤ Expand the B2C offering, the company will reinforce convergence in Spain and Brazil, expand it in the UK and Germany, and boost ecosystem services to grow B2C revenues and household presence. Telefónica will accelerate both convergence and the digital ecosystem — two key growth drivers.

➤ Scale the B2B and public administration business, Telefónica aims to modernise communication services in Spain and Brazil, seize opportunities in the UK and Germany, and accelerate growth in digital services by leveraging Telefónica Tech, Global Business Units, and local partnerships with companies and sales channels.

➤ Evolve its technological capabilities, the company will invest in fixed and mobile networks, upgrade IT systems, and focus innovation on technologies that enhance its product portfolio, performance, and customer value proposition.

➤ Simplify the operating model, Telefónica will evolve towards a simplified Group operating model, granting greater autonomy to countries and global units focused on critical roles and value creation through scale.

➤ Develop talent, the company will attract and retain the very best professionals across all markets and strengthen a culture focused on impact and execution.

The question of what happens next in the UK depends upon how the other half of their joint venture, Virgin Media, responds. At this stage, there’s still a lack of clarity over what will happen with nexfibre’s build into 2026 and beyond, while questions are already buzzing around which network operators the pair might seek to consolidate. Netomnia is already in the frame, albeit perhaps more as a strategic move to counter CityFibre (they also want to do a deal with Netomnia), since the high level of overbuild with Virgin Media would otherwise make such a deal unappetising.

In the meantime, you can watch the full c.2-hour event below, assuming you enjoy listening to marketing speak for that long (unlikely). Still, even with all the soundbites, it’d still be better than spending the same amount of time watching through the last instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise, but each to their own.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Customers of Sky Glass, which uses your broadband and WiFi connection to stream on-demand video and live TV channels directly to Sky’s own brand TV sets (without a satellite dish), have been informed that if they also took out the £290 dedicated 4K HDR smart camera add-on (Sky Live) then this will shortly become an expensive paper weight.

The Sky Live camera was originally launched in June 2023 (here) – designed exclusively for use with Sky Glass (it magnetically attached to the top of their TV sets) – and included various features, such as video calling via Zoom, noise-cancelling technology to improve audio clarity and group watching (i.e. syncing the show you’re watching with friends/family in another location, while still allowing video chats – max of 12 people on one call).

The device, which used a 12MP (Megapixel) wide-angle 106-degree Field of View (FoV) camera that connected to Sky Glass via both USB-C and HDMI ports, also featured movement sensors to help support video gaming and exercise, as well as auto-framing technology to help follow users around the room.

Sounds good, right? Well, you’d hope so for £290 a pop, although this cost could alternatively be spreading across a 48 or 24-month contract term. But in a somewhat shocking twist for such recent hardware, Sky yesterday began informing customers that Sky Live will “cease to operate on 4th December [2025]“!

Sky UK Statement

From today, 4th November, Sky Live customers will start to be notified that Sky Live will cease to operate on 4th December.

Innovation has always been at the heart of Sky, finding new ways to make the TV experience even better for our customers. Sky Live was part of that journey, and we’re proud of the ambition behind it. It’s given us valuable learnings that are helping to shape the future of our products.

We have, however, made the difficult decision to discontinue it, in order to focus our investment on what matters most to customers. In the past few years, we’ve launched the next generation of Sky Glass TVs in Gen 2 & Air, which we continue to make even smarter through new updates to Sky OS. We have the UK’s fastest broadband speeds from any major provider, and we’ve launched 5 star rated home insurance with Sky Protect.

We understand this news may be disappointing to people who have enjoyed using Sky Live, and we’re sorry about that.

We also know our customers have loved the Sky Live games, and so we’ve invested in bringing more games to Sky Glass & Stream for all customers to enjoy. There’s something for everyone in the family, including the newly released Who Wants to be a Millionaire, arcade games like PacMan, child-friendly games from Teletubbies and Spongebob, as well as card and strategy games like Solitaire and Chess.

The good news, if you can call it that, is Sky aren’t just going to say “we’re sorry about that” and then run off with your money, which might potentially have landed them in some legal hot water with a number of consumer protection rules.

Sky Live customers will thus be “entitled to a refund for the value that they have paid towards their Sky Live device“, this will automatically be sent to the direct debit on their Sky Account or, if they paid in full, the card used to make the purchase within 3 weeks of the 4th November.

Sky are also offering further information and ways to either recycle or return the Sky Live device once this process completes – here. Sadly, Sky doesn’t clarify why they’ve decided to give up on Sky Live so soon after launching it, which is an incredibly unusual thing to do. But we can speculate that its adoption was probably fairly low, and thus the cost of maintaining the surrounding ecosystem may have ceased to make much sense.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Telecoms giant BT (EE) has this morning announced a “landmark agreement” to make Starlink’s mega constellation of ultrafast broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) available to their consumer broadband customers in “rural and remote areas“, where traditional fixed-line infrastructure is “economically unviable or geographically challenging” to build.

The announcement doesn’t provide a lot of information on how this will be deployed, but it does state that Starlink is “quick to deploy and capable of delivering download speeds of up to 280 Mbps“. The collaboration is also curiously described as being a “first in the UK and one of the first globally“, although we’re not currently sure what makes this a “first” – Starlink is already used by other providers, sometimes they just resell the service and other times it’s adopted as backhaul for an existing network.

The new service is currently expected to be available to customers in the “latter half of 2026” and we assume BT / EE must be planning to do something a bit different from merely reselling the same product that consumers can already buy, today, directly from Starlink itself. The move comes shortly after O2 announced that they’d also be harnessing Starlink, albeit to connect their roaming mobile users via Direct to Cell (here).

Allison Kirkby, CEO of BT Group, said:

“As we create a better BT for all of us, no one is doing more to connect the UK than we are. This landmark agreement with Starlink is a giant leap for rural connectivity – allowing us to get fast and reliable in-home connectivity to our customers in some of the UK’s most rural and isolated areas and to bridge the digital divide better than ever.”

Chad Gibbs, VP of Business Operations at SpaceX, said:

“On behalf of Starlink, we’re excited to team up with BT Group and bring high-speed internet to more people across the UK. Their local presence will help us reach those communities which have historically faced challenges with reliable connectivity. Starlink is committed to its mission to connect the unconnected while maintaining focus on delivering overall quality of service.”

Starlink currently has almost 8,900 satellites in orbit (c.5,300 are v2 / V2 Mini) – mostly at altitudes of c.500-600km – and rising. Residential customers in the UK usually pay from £75 a month, plus £299 for hardware (currently free for most areas) on the ‘Standard’ unlimited data plan (kit price may vary due to different offers), which promises UK latency times of 26-33ms, downloads of 116-277Mbps and uploads of 17-32Mbps. Cheaper and more restrictive options also exist for roaming users.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The BT Group has today published their H1 FY26 biannual results to Sept 2025, which reveals that Openreach’s full fibre (FTTP) network added 2.2 million premises to their UK coverage to total 20.3m (level with H2 FY25 growth); including 5.5m in rural areas. But broadband line losses to rivals jumped to 242k in the last quarter (up from 169k in Q1 2025).

The group’s consumer divisions – including BT, EE and Plusnet – reported being home to a total of 8,210 million broadband connections (up slightly from 8.198m in H2 FY25), which included 3.677m FTTP customers (up from 3.202m). BT’s business division similarly had a total of 576k retail broadband lines (down from 595k) and 144k of those were FTTP lines. BT Wholesale also supplied a total of 688k broadband lines to other ISPs (down from 697k) and 131k of those were FTTP (up from 93k).

In terms of consumer mobile connections, EE reported total mobile customers of 13.924m (up from 13.863m), including 11.199m using 5G (up from 10.806m). BT also reported that their fixed broadband consumers gobbled an average of 444GB (GigaBytes) of data per month (down from 446.1GB), which falls to 18.2GB for EE’s post-paid mobile users (up from 17GB).

Elsewhere, some 59.1% of BT’s fixed consumer base take a “superfast broadband” product (down from 62.9% in H1) and 37.1% have adopted one of their “ultrafast” products (up from 32.6%), which these days largely reflects FTTP cannibalising customers from slower FTTC and ADSL lines. ISPreview also noted that 25.9% of BT’s customers are now taking both mobile and broadband (converged), which is up from 24.6%.

Finally, BT confirmed that EE’s 5G Standalone (mobile broadband) network had so far been rolled out across 50 major UK towns and cities, covering over 66% of the population (up from 40%). The provider aims to reach 99% by the end of 2030.

Financial Highlights – BT’s Half-Yearly Change
* BT Group revenue = £9,806m (down from £10,232m in H2 FY25)
* BT Group total reported net debt = £20,853 (increased from £19,816m)
* BT Group profit after tax = £651m (up from £299m)

Openreach’s Network

The table below offers a breakdown of fixed line network coverage and take-up by technology on Openreach’s UK network, which covers the totals for all ISPs that take their products combined (e.g. BT, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Zen Internet, Vodafone etc.).

The rollout of their FTTP lines continues to grow, with 2.23 million premises being added to their network coverage in H1 FY26 and that’s level with 2.2m in the previous half. As for take-up, some 7.65 million FTTP broadband connections have been made on Openreach’s network (up by 1.11m), which equates to a take-up of 37.66% (up from 36.13%). This is a healthy figure for the incumbent.

However, rival networks have managed to peel plenty of consumers away from the industry giant’s older network (mostly from the areas where OR has yet to build FTTP), with Openreach reporting that total broadband lines fell from 20.09m to 19.68m in the last half year (down by -411k vs -450k in the previous half). The latest bleed in customer lines may well have been given a boost by Sky Broadband’s launch of CityFibre based packages (here).

Allison Kirkby, CEO of BT Group, said:

“BT is delivering on its strategy in competitive markets. We’re building the UK’s digital backbone, connecting the country like no one else and accelerating our transformation. Openreach full fibre broadband now reaches more than 20 million homes and businesses and our award-winning EE network is live with 5G+ coverage for 66% of the population.

Since the start of the year, we’ve driven customer growth across Consumer broadband, mobile and TV and we’re stabilising our UK-focused Business division. Outside the UK, we’ve completed strategic exits and we’re reshaping our International unit. BT’s transformation is delivering ahead of plan, as our UK focus and radical simplification and modernisation are helping to offset declines from our International and legacy businesses and higher labour-related costs since the start of this tax year.

We remain on track to deliver our financial outlook for this year, our cash flow inflection to c.£2.0bn in FY27 and c.£3.0bn by the end of the decade, and we’re announcing an increased interim dividend to 2.45 pence per share.”

Take note that BT now only publishes detailed results biannually for H1 and H2 (financial quarters), thus they release very little data for the other two intervening quarters and that similarly means we will only be able to do two detailed reports – like the one above – twice every year.

Just a quick reminder. BT introduced a new metric in 2023, which predicted that their total labour force would shrink from 130,000 to between 75,000 and 90,000 by 2030 (inc. subcontractors). The operator also predicted that Openreach’s FTTP coverage would grow to between 25-30 million premises and deliver take-up of between 40-55% by that same date. The latest report includes a quick progress update on this.

BT Group’s Progress Against Strategic Metrics:

• FTTP premises passed increased by 2.2m to over 20m; target of 25-30m.

• Openreach take-up increased to 38% and retail take-up increased by 0.6m to 4.0m; targets of 40-55% and 6.5-8.5m respectively.

• 5G UK population coverage increased to 89% and 5G retail connections increased by 0.7m to 13.9m; targets of 99% and 13.0m-14.5m respectively.

• 5G+ population coverage increased to 66%; target of 99%.

• Total labour resource decreased by 5k to 111k; target of 75-90k.

• Group Net Promoter Score increased to 30.5, up 5.2pts year-on-year; target of 30-35.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

UK telcos have taken a significant step towards tackling the persistent issue of scam calls by committing to a new Telecommunications Fraud Charter. This initiative unites major mobile service providers, including BT/EE, Virgin Media O2, VodafoneThree, Tesco Mobile, TalkTalk, and Sky, with Comms Council UK (CCUK), in a concerted effort to clamp down on fraud and better protect victims.

The charter, announced ahead of the UK Government’s forthcoming Fraud Strategy, embodies a series of targeted anti-fraud measures designed to disrupt scam call operations and offer faster support to those affected.

According to recent data, 96% of mobile users decide whether to answer a call based on the displayed number, with 75% unlikely to respond to unknown international numbers. As a result, scammers from outside the country are increasingly posing as calling from within the UK.

As a result, today’s signatories are have committing to rolling out advanced call tracing technology across their networks, in order to locate and block scam calls. The Charter supports the development of a Traceback system, enabling operators to pinpoint the origin of suspicious or fraudulent calls in real time across networks. This initiative is part of a broader push for inter-sector collaboration, encouraging data sharing between telecommunications, banking, and technology industries.

Public awareness campaigns and improved victim support mechanisms are also key components of the plan. The CCUK has committed to developing best-practice guidance aimed at commercial customers, enhancing how service providers detect, respond to, and communicate fraud-related threats.

In addition, the Charter provides greater scope for data sharing with law enforcement, providing them with the necessary intelligence to track down scammers more effectively. Victims of fraud will benefit from quicker response times, with support fast-tracked to within two weeks.

“This initiative brings together government and industry to deliver change for consumers and businesses.The overall message around collaborative data sharing, advanced technology solutions, and unified public messaging will help disrupt fraudulent activity at scale,” said Tracey Wright, Chair of Comms Council UK.

“Spoofed calls allow scammers to deceive the public with fake identities and false promises. This government is committed to tackling fraud. In a major upgrade of our mobile network, call spoofing will be eliminated within a year – stripping away the tools scammers use to cheat people out of their hard-earned cash. We’re stepping up our defences to protect victims and make sure the UK is the hardest place in the world for scammers to operate,” added Lord Hanson, the UK’s Minister for Fraud.

This industry initiative aligns with various regulatory updates from Ofcom over recent years. Just last week, Ofcom announced new measures designed to block, limit and disrupt mobile scammers.

Also in the news
Connected Britain Award winners 2025 announced!
Netomnia announces ‘powerful and ambitious’ rebrand ahead of Connected Britain
VodafoneThree drops Samsung, relies on Nokia and Ericsson for £2bn network upgrade

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Interview

With the fibre ‘land grabbing’ largely complete, altnets are doubling down on efficiency

At Connected Britain this year, there was much talk of the inevitability of alnet consolidation and the shift in focus away from network deployment towards customer uptake.

Speaking at the event, F&W Networks chairman Carlos Bock described the initial altnet boom as ‘almost a land grabbing exercise’, suggesting that they could have worked harder to connect customers as they went.

“I think we [as an industry] could have done better to try to correlate our rollouts with the connection of subscribers,” said Bock. “This alternative […] would maybe have been more efficient, but also more fragmented. I’m not sure it would have put us in a better position than we are today.”

Now, in need of proven returns, the industry is focussed much more heavily on efficiency, both in their continued build out and ongoing operations.

“It’s about optimising every single aspect of the delivery chain for capital efficiency and the operational chain for operational efficiency,” said Bock. “Both concepts are key; the first so you can build a large network and the second so you can become profitable more quickly.”

For F&W Networks, this capital efficiency has left them in a strong position for continued growth in a rapidly constricting market.

“We have a clear path to cash flow break even in 2026 and we’re starting talks with investors to expand and complete our existing footprint. The opportunity is still there,” concluded Bock.

Check out the full interview here!

Also in the news
Connected Britain Award winners 2025 announced!
Netomnia announces ‘powerful and ambitious’ rebrand ahead of Connected Britain
VodafoneThree drops Samsung, relies on Nokia and Ericsson for £2bn network upgrade

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Alternative UK broadband network Voneus has today officially confirmed what we touched on last month (here), which reveals that they’ve strengthened their position for “long-term growth” with a business reorganisation and have secured funding through to 2030 (i.e. renegotiation of an existing £70m debt facility). But more job cuts are set to follow.

Just to recap. Voneus, not unlike many other altnets, has been struggling a bit recently with redundancies and a slowdown in their network build (here). This came after the operator also found itself having to withdraw (here) from their publicly funded Project Gigabit broadband build contract for Mid West Shropshire (Lot 25.01), which has since been picked up by Openreach (here).

The company’s most recent accounts, which cover the year to 31st March 2024, revealed that their turnover had increased by 34% to £4.417m, while gross profit shrank by -17% to £768.6k and total employees grew from 156 to 238. But Voneus’ loss before tax has also more than doubled to £36.65m (up from £14.83m), although their net assets have grown to be worth £93.43m (up from £23.32m).

However, the latest announcement confirms our earlier report of a revised funding deal (including some unspecified new funding from existing investors), which will see them through to 2030 and reveals that their mixed wireless (FWA) and full fibre (FTTP) broadband network is now home to 26,000 customers.

The provider further states that they’ve also implemented “several key operational improvements“, including the creation of a new cross-functional commercial team that more closely aligns its marketing and sales activities. In addition, they’ve set up a hybrid tech support hub that handles all support levels for wireless as well as tech support for fibre, allowing for more efficiencies.

As part of its strategic review, Voneus added that they will now “undertake a business reorganisation to ensure operational efficiency and future scalability“. This process is expected to include the “outsourcing of some business functions” and may result in a “limited number of redundancies“. The company will now begin individual consultation with those roles potentially at risk.

A spokesperson for Voneus said:

“Voneus has made excellent progress in connecting rural Britain, achieving some of the highest penetration rates in the sector. These changes are about building on that success ensuring we remain agile, efficient, and positioned for long-term growth. While any potential redundancies are deeply regrettable, this reorganisation is necessary to secure our continued investment in people, technology, and the rural communities and customers we serve.”

Otherwise, the company plans to continue its organic growth strategy, whilst also continuing to “actively explore” mergers and acquisition opportunities.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The Scottish Government (SG) recently revealed that 93,800 premises have now benefitted from their £697m Reaching 100% (R100) project with Openreach (up from 83,419 in July 2025), which is rolling out full fibre (FTTP) broadband to remote rural areas. But the full roll-out is still not expected to complete until early 2028.

The R100 scheme currently aims to cover another 113,000 premises – split across three contracts – in areas that lack access to “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) by March 2028. The most challenging LOT 1 (North Scotland and the Highlands) area is expected to cover around 61,000 premises by 2027/28, while LOT 2 (Central Scotland) was due to reach 32,000 by 2023/24 and LOT 3 (South Scotland) targeted 22,000 by 2024/25.

Just for some wider context. At the end of June 2025 some 81.89% of premises in Scotland could access a gigabit-capable (1Gbps download) broadband ISP network and this fell to 70.20% when only looking at FTTP technology (here). Ofcom predicts that Scotland’s full fibre (FTTP) coverage will reach somewhere between 81-93% by January 2028, rising to 87-94% for gigabit-capable broadband (FTTP + Hybrid Fibre Coax / cable).

The latest update appears to confirm that the deployments for LOT 2 and LOT 3 have technically now exceeded their delivery targets, which largely leaves the most challenging LOT 1 build left to reach completion. But it should be noted that these figures also include some additional build (overspill), which catches the extra premises that Openreach picks up while working within the same areas on the R100 build (we don’t know how big this is for each area).

The R100 deployment remains ongoing, but we should point out that Openreach (BT) and GoFibre have separately also recently secured several public subsidised Project Gigabit broadband roll-out contracts for Scotland (here, here and here), which will extend FTTP to an additional 139,000 premises in remote rural areas (focusing on the bits that R100 fails to reach) via a subsidy total of around £288m.

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The TalkTalk Group has today published a very brief trading update for the half year ended 31st August 2025, which largely only highlights the positives (unlike their annual accounts) and claims to have “delivered a solid first-half performance“. The group is currently aiming to tackle its debts by targeting £146m in total savings by FY28.

The group, which recently launched a major brand refresh and advertising push for its consumer broadband ISP business (here), is currently still doing everything it can to cut costs and to tackle their underlying debt problem; including the possible disposal (sale) of its remaining businesses (here) and more job cuts (here).

All of this follows last year’s £400m refinancing package, which avoided the immediate risk of a default on its debts (here, here), and the recent £120m funding deal (here). Sadly, the latest results for H1 FY26 fail to add much detail to the current overall picture of the business, but it does highlight a few of the recent positives.

TalkTalk’s H1 FY26 Trading Update

H1 Financial Highlights

• Cash EBITDA (pre-IFRS) £74m (H1 FY25: £72m), an improvement of £2m year-on-year, with lower SAC and opex offsetting reduced base and lower IP sales.
• Cost transformation on track, with the Group targeting £146m in total savings by FY28, supported by efficiencies, IT simplification, and the retirement of legacy copper infrastructure. 
• The Group’s cash discipline has been maintained, supported by proceeds from £44m of non-core asset disposals and £74m of new funding following recent funding round.

H1 Operational Highlights

• TalkTalk’s consumer business delivered a brand refresh, initiated the rollout of TalkTalk U (a differentiated Wi-Fi product that uses smart data to deliver coverage around the home at speeds that flex to customers’ needs) and continued the migration of customers to the Kraken customer platform.
• PXC increased its FTTP AltNet penetration to 24%, rolled out new VoIP and Ethernet over FTTP products, and achieved further cost and automation gains, with over 95% of next-generation broadband orders now fully automated.

Having created the TalkTalk consumer and PXC businesses from the former consolidated group structure 18 months ago, the group now say they expect to “commence a more formal process to explore new ownership structures for the separated businesses” and confirms that it has appointed PJT to advise on “strategic options for both businesses” (this largely links back to all that ongoing talk of a sale).

James Smith, CEO of TalkTalk Group, said:

“Over the past six months, we’ve made huge progress in continuing to transform and simplify the group. Our consumer business has returned to its challenger roots, with the launch of TalkTalk U and our partnership with Kraken to deliver best in class customer service. At the same time, PXC is leading the way in next-generation connectivity, expanding its AltNet footprint and rolling out next-generation business-grade products.

Despite considerable pricing competition across all our markets, we’ve continued to deliver by staying disciplined, driving efficiency, and focusing relentlessly on value. We remain on track to achieve our full-year financial guidance.”