UK fibre altnet Netomnia targets 3 million premises

  • The UK fibre broadband sector is set for a year of consolidation
  • Netomnia has the scale and momentum to be one of the survivors
  • It is on course to reach 3 million UK premises by the end of 2025

With speculation continuing to swirl around the potential acquisition of “distressed assets” by some of the larger players in the British broadband sector, Netomnia looks likely to be one of the UK fibre access network sector’s altnet survivors as it continues to expand its reach and grow its customer base. 

Despite several tough years and increasingly challenging conditions, about 100 fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) altnets are still in operation across the UK, though industry gossip suggests that many are on the brink of bankruptcy and are seeking cut-price takeover deals with large, well-funded operators, such as CityFibre and Nexfibre, to avoid closure. Cityfibre, according to one industry source, is believed to be in discussions with as many as six UK altnets about the purchase of their fibre network assets. 

But some are in a healthier state than others. Netomnia, for example, looks to have the scale and momentum to survive the inevitable consolidation, thanks in part, of course, to already having been one of the sector’s consolidators: It announced a merger with Brsk in June last year to give it greater scale and efficiencies (the deal closed in August). It also has an experienced management team, a focused expansion strategy and committed investors in the form of DigitalBridge, Soho Square Capital and Advencap (which was also an investor in Brsk). 

Netomnia, along with its retail fibre broadband sister company YouFibre, has raised £795.5m in various forms of financing over the past three-plus years, including £147.5m of debt financing in March last year.  

Now Netomnia’s fibre access network, which it uses to provide retail as well as wholesale broadband services, passes (and is able to provide commercial services to) 2.08 million UK premises, about the same as Nexfibre (both companies claim to be the UK’s second-biggest fibre altnet, with CityFibre being the biggest).  

Of that total, 238,000 UK premises are connected, and that number is currently increasing by about 50,000 per quarter. 

By the end of 2025, Netomnia expects to be passing 3 million UK premises, according to CEO Jeremy Chelot. “Reaching two million premises serviceable marks a defining moment for our group, firmly establishing us as the UK’s second-largest alternative network provider,” stated Chelot in these comments about the company’s 2024 performance. “With our proven execution capabilities, we’re confidently progressing toward our next milestone of 3 million premises serviceable by the end of 2025,” he added.

The operator is building out its network in targeted areas across the whole of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland): You can see its rollout map here

While Netomnia is growing its reach quickly, sales and profits take longer to build (as broadband network investors know only too well). For 2024, Netomnia’s revenues totalled just £38.6m – a 321% year-on-year improvement! – while its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss was £29.6m, a 13% improvement on the previous year’s total. So the numbers are all heading in the right direction, at least. 

News of Netomnia’s growth came as CityFibre provided an update on its FTTP rollouts that are being funded by the UK government’s Project Gigabit initiative: The company has received £782m in subsidies to deploy its network in rural and other hard-to-reach areas in nine regions across the UK and says work is now underway in all nine areas. Over the next five years, CityFibre is set to reach 1.3 million UK homes and businesses with its Project Gigabit-backed infrastructure. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV

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