Network operator nexfibre, which shares some of their parentage with retail ISP partner Virgin Media (VMO2), has this morning published their latest quarterly (Q2 2024) progress update on the roll-out of their new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband ISP network. This includes details on build locations for 2025 and early 2026.
We’ll start with the usual recap. Back in 2022 Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners setup nexfibre as a new £4.5bn joint venture (here), which aims to deploy an open access full fibre network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT served by Virgin Media’s own network of 16m+ premises. The funding reflects £3.3bn of fully underwritten financing and up to £1.4bn in equity commitments.
The operator has already deployed their network to cover 1,277,800 premises ‘Ready for Service’ (up from 986,000 in the last update), which doesn’t yet include last year’s acquisition of Upp and its c.175,000 premises, and they’re in the process of investing another £1bn this year to help cover an additional 1 million UK premises (i.e. on top of their existing coverage). This should get them to around c.2m by the end of 2024.
The latest report also reveals planned build locations for 2025 and early 2026, with a “significantly expanded footprint” being planned for previously underserved areas of North Wales and Scotland. The next stage will also see “high volumes of build” in Eastbourne, Weymouth and Nantwich.
Sadly, nexfibre doesn’t provide a neat spreadsheet style table to highlight new additions to their build plan (at least not one we can easily paste), although they do provide something similar via their latest Q2 2024 Rollout Update (PDF) and there’s also a fairly vague visual map of their progress.
Nexfibre UK Build Update Map for Q2 2024
Rajiv Datta, CEO of nexfibre, said:
“It is thanks to the hard work of our team, our partners – including our build partner Virgin Media O2 – and our investors that we have been able to build at this pace and achieve this reach in such a short period of time.
We have exciting plans for 2025 and into 2026, which is part of our commitment to provide a nationwide alternative network and the competition in the fibre access market that the UK needs and deserves. Our work matters because, at its heart, better broadband improves the lives of people and communities across the country, boosts economic growth and will help the UK lead the digital future.”