All Connected Britain articles
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M&A
‘We need to get on with it’: nexfibre boss wants to see altnet acquisition action
Fibreco chief suggests some investors will have to swallow losses on altnets as the industry goes into consolidation mode.
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Public Affairs
‘Enormously aggressive’: nexfibre leads altnet complaints against Openreach copper-to-fibre discounting
Connected Britain 2025: As Openreach pulls levers to combat massive broadband losses, and drive fibre adoption alongside, altnet leaders have called out the discount pricing strategy as unsustainable. nexfibre execs have called it an exploitation of the incumbent’s significant market powers, CityFibre warns of structure advantage, plus views from other altnets, rivals…
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Eventwatch
Industry maps next steps for UK’s One Touch Switch
Connected Britain 2025: TOTSCo to focus on two key areas over the next year to further improve and streamline OTS, with BT, Hyperoptic, and Grain Connect among those highlighting the system’s consequences and potential improvements…
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Strategy & Change
From upstart to fibre-mobile powerhouse: Netomnia CEO plots BT take-down
Connected Britain: Jeremy Chelot refreshes provocative vision for fibreco segment, with fixed-mobile convergence latest outcome of choice. The ultimate prize could be a scaled altnet merging with VodafoneThree, or a new MNO — creating a new heavyweight contender to BT/Openreach…
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Strategy & Change
Grain skewers wholesale model as altnets ponder consolidation
At Connected Britain the UK’s largest fibre platforms called on investors and smaller players to accept the inevitability of consolidation. Niche challenger Grain rebutted the assumption that scale is now critical, and instead called into question the foundations of current wholesale‑led models.
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Public Affairs
BT’s Kirkby pulls no punches in review of UK regulatory, fiscal policy
Connected Britain: Allison Kirkby lets loose on Downing Street policy, with greater fiscal certainty needed to fund much-needed infra investment and AI adoption. Regulatory policy comes in for inevitable criticism too, as the BT boss sets the scene for the Chancellor’s upcoming Budget and Ofcom’s pending Telecoms Access Review…
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Partnerships & Alliances
Gamma’s Mike Mills: why UK altnet-MVNO convergence is happening now
For UK fibre players, adding mobile services is becoming a compelling route to maximising ARPU and customer value. Enabler Gamma debunks misconceptions, arguing that the MVNO model can unlock significant returns with fast market entry, while eSIM also rewrites the rules. Learn more…
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M&A
IQGeo: KKR’s latest tech buy adds geospatial smarts to sprawling infra portfolio
Private equity giant KKR is taking Cambridge-based geospatial software specialist IQGeo private in £333m deal, pledging to fuel new phase of growth. Log in to understand this hot specialist and what it provides network operators worldwide…
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Analyst Briefings
BTwatch Weekly: gov’t reforms required as Openreach seeks fibre residencies
Latest from BT and its ecosystem as the Group makes fixed network demands, rolls out next-gen mobile, and works to surrender international outposts. More from Connected Britain, Secure Tomorrow Festival, and elsewhere in a busy week for BT, EE, and Openreach…
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Public Affairs
Deep dive: What UK FibreCos want from Labour gov’t
Fibre builders share what they want from the new Labour government, with policy consistency and demand-side support topping wishlists, divergence on the detail. Read more…
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Suppliers & SCM
Vodafone’s scaleup hothouse pivots to address telco ‘risk aversion’
Connected Britain: Tomorrow Street CEO Kenny Graham talks up JV’s role in educating Vodafone execs of need to take risks to leverage emerging technology.
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Public Affairs
UK Minister hints at fixes for FibreCos’ apartment access woes
Operators vent about barriers to accessing MDU access as new Telecoms Minister offers support for reforms, but little in the way of detail or firm commitments…
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Products & Services
In depth: One Touch Switching launch day
UK’s ‘imperfect’ fixed broadband migration hub debuts to mixed altnet reviews, and incumbent ISP win-back loophole only spotted on launch day. OTS broadly seen by many challengers as open season on majors with poor customer satisfaction, mixed with fears of race to bottom and weakness on multi-play (Sky and VM O2 are both bullish, too). Register to read…
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Eventwatch
Virgin Media O2 and CityFibre question each other’s fibre maths
Connected Britain: VM O2 CEO Lutz Schüler argues operator is taking “challenger” approach in UK’s fibre market, with nexfibre spin-off and upcoming NetCo positioning operator to be a “long-term sustainable partner” to altnets.
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Eventwatch
EE navigates ‘tricky’ 5G SA marketing, steers clear of sector’s past blunders
Speaking at Connected Britain, EE Chief Executive Marc Allera said advertising 5G SA is a challenge and not helped by the mobile industry over-promising and under-delivering on non-standalone 5G.
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Eventwatch
TelcoTitans Eventwatch calendar: the industry events that matter
TelcoTitans Eventwatch highlights the key events to look out for in 2025 that really matter, and those we will be covering, attending, and associated with as an official media partner.
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Interview
CEO Interview: CityFibre on M&A watch, competition bottlenecks, BT economic rationale questioned
‘BT’ called out for obstinate, irrational, anti-competitive behaviour that penalises own shareholders — needs to prioritise copper shutdown to deliver fibre payback, and start serving consumers outside Openreach footprint. Also CityFibre’s M&A tracking/ranking and NetCo purism, big-3 ISP lockout, regulator told to keep sharp, and more…
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Eventwatch
Interview: CityFibre strives to shift the dial on UK fibre safety standards
Connected Britain 2023: In an interview with TelcoTitans, Sarah Parsons, Director of Compliance at CityFibre, shares how the altnet is evolving its safety standards to keep pace with its fibre rollout, and how it collaborates with peers in the SHiFT group to compete to do better.
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Eventwatch
Rural fibre business case “getting stronger” as UK altnets look to boost take-up
Connected Britain 2023: UK fibre builders warming up to rural rollout as private funding becomes harder to access. Perspectives from Lothian Broadband, County Broadband, CityFibre, Openreach, and CommScope.