Fibre overbuild jumped in 2024 as UK gigabit coverage reached 85 percentFibre overbuild jumped in 2024 as UK gigabit coverage reached 85 percent

New stats from Point Topic reveal that FTTP coverage reached 72.9 percent at the end of 2024, compared to 60.9 percent at the end of 2023. During last year, the proportion of homes and businesses passed by FTTP networks increased by 23.2 percent.

Openreach, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), Hull-based KCOM, CityFibre and the UK's myriad altnets between them covered nearly 24 million locations.

When alternative access technologies – like Virgin Media O2 (VMO2)'s DOCSIS 3.1 cable network – are lumped in, just 15.4 percent of UK premises went without access to some sort of gigabit-capable broadband by the end of 2024.

"The [UK government's] Project Gigabit target of 85 percent gigabit coverage in the UK by 2025 has been achieved," said Point Topic, although it was at pains to point out that when looking at individual nations, Scotland and Wales "still have a way to go, with 21.7 percent and 23.3 percent of their premises respectively lacking gigabit access."

Other parts of the country, meanwhile, are spoilt for choice.

"Fibre network overbuild has intensified in 2024," said Point Topic, noting that at the end of December, nearly 9.1 million premises had access to two or more FTTP networks – some 27.5 percent of the total, up from 17.7 percent at the end of 2023.

The number of premises passed by three or more fibre networks more than doubled to over 1.3 million.

Competition keeps prices in check, and encourages innovation and efficiency, but it also puts the squeeze on some the UK's smaller players.

"Multiple network operators are increasingly competing for the same customers," said Point Topic. "This will put further pressure on take-up rates, profit margins and lead to further consolidation in the market."

Indeed, we're only just at the start of February and already altnets FullFibre and Zzoomm have decided to join forces.

That said, the combined entity will still be a minnow relative to the UK's big fish (see chart). Together FullFibre and Zzoomm will cover 600,000 premises and have more than 65,000 customers. Big for altnet, but not in the same league as a CityFibre or a VMO2/Nexfibre, much less Openreach, which now boasts 17 million premises in its fibre footprint.

It's little wonder then that part of the rationale for their merger is so they are better placed to hoover up smaller rivals further down the line.

"An enlarged business with the operational and financial infrastructure, benefiting from the economies of scale, as well as a management team with an exceptional track record, we will have an excellent platform to combine with other Altnets in the near future," said Zzoomm CEO Matthew Hare, who is due to become executive chairman of the merged entity.

Assuming FullZzoomm or ZzoommFibre or whatever it ends being called doesn't get swallowed up first.

More altnets besides CityFibre or Nexfibre have blasted past the magic million mark, including – according to Point Topic – Community Fibre (1.4 million) and Netomnia (1.3 million).

Both already have a taste for consolidation, with the former acquiring Box Broadband in 2021, and the latter having gobbled up brsk last summer.

Against this backdrop of overbuild, further consolidation in 2025 looks inevitable.