AltNets Brightstar and Urbanfibre Plan UK FTTP Broadband Rollout

Two new Alternative Network (altnet) builders – Brightstar Limited and Urbanfibre Limited – have today revealed some tentative details about their proposed plans to build or expand an existing Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across some parts of the country.

The details came to light after both operators made a request for Code Powers from Ofcom (here and here), which is typically sought to help speed-up deployments of new fibre optic infrastructure and cut costs, not least by reducing the number of licenses needed for street works. It can also be used to facilitate access to run their own fibre via Openreach’s existing ducts and telegraph poles (PIA).

In the case of Brightstar, they’re an existing business ISP that has been active since 2002 (company details). The provider already has a limited FTTP broadband network in Central and West London, although until now this has been primarily used to serve businesses. But they’re now looking to expand this to cater for both “homes and businesses across London and the wider UK” – with a focus on areas that cannot yet access such connectivity.

The story for Urbanfibre (company details), which was only incorporated in May 2021 and is owned by another new company – O’Connor Group Topco Limited, is a little less clear, and they don’t appear to have a website yet (at least none we could find).

Ofcom states that Urbanfibre have “no fixed plans at present,” but do have an aspiration to provide connectivity for data centres and to deploy FTTP broadband services “on the periphery of conurbations, or in smaller rural areas, that are currently underserved by existing providers“. Any new duct and fibre infrastructure for this will be used to serve both residential and business customers.

The operator claims to have identified a “series of opportunities” to conduct these activities in London, the South East, the M4/A4 corridor and the Midlands. The plan is interesting because the same people behind this (e.g. Timothy Gerard O’Connor) are also connected to the well-known civil engineering firm O’Connor Utilities, which is actively helping to build FTTP networks for rival network operators (Netomnia, CityFibre, Ogi etc.).

Unfortunately, that’s all the information we have right now, but we’ll keep an eye open for any solid plans for deployment and funding in the future. The challenge will be that the UK AltNet market is already extremely busy, which makes it much harder for new entrants to make a business case that is free from the risk of future overbuild my rivals.