Altnet Broadband ISP Lightning Fibre Join CityFibre’s UK Wholesale Network UPDATE
Eastbourne-based alternative network operator and ISP Lightning Fibre, which has deployed a gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across parts of Sussex and Kent in England, have today signed a wholesale agreement that will enable them to sell packages via Cityfibre’s network too. But initial coverage will be limited.
CityFibre currently aspires to cover up to 8 million UK premises with their new FTTP network (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and c.£800m of BDUK subsidy) – across over 285 cities, towns and villages (c.30% of the UK). But it remains unclear precisely when this will be achieved. The original goal was for the end of 2025, although their current build + M&A plan may get them up to c.6m (if it all goes well).
The latest addition to the aforementioned ISPs will be Lightning Fibre, which plans to harness Cityfibre’s network, albeit initially only in the Brighton & Hove and Worthing areas. The move is clearly intended to complement their own FTTP build in the same region.
Advertisement
Stefan Stanislawski, CEO of Lightning Fibre, said:
“Customers across Eastbourne, Hastings, Heathfield and Hailsham are already making the most of hyper fast full fibre broadband from Lightning Fibre, and now even more homes and businesses will be able to choose Lightning Fibre’s award-winning broadband as a result of this wholesale deal. We’re delighted to join forces with CityFibre and intend to develop and nurture a very close and effective working relationship.”
At present it’s unclear whether LF will adopt the same package details and costs as they currently offer in the new CF covered areas, although we are checking and will report back.
UPDATE 12:41pm
Lightning Fibre has informed ISPreview that their consumer packages (including social tariff) in CF areas will remain the same (price etc.) as their current plans. But initially they won’t have any 2.5Gbps packages or business ones on the CF side. However, at launch, there will be a special sale on 1Gbps (£29) for homes in Brighton, Hove, Worthing and Lancing, which will run to Sept 2024 and maybe beyond, fixed for 2 years.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
« Ofcom UK Propose to Open Unassigned 32GHz Spectrum for Fixed Wireless Links
It will be interesting to see if LF eventually allow CF wholesale customers on to their network. Apart from Eastbourne (where they are heavily overbuilt) there doesn’t seem any overlap between them.
Also Virgin say they are building down here. Eastbourne was always left out but this is mad. Good choice though. Surely LF would be a good fit for Virgin as there is no overbuild apart from Brighton maybe. We’ll see what happens but with 4 networks to choose from it’s like the mobile networks.
We’ve gone from nothing to 4 networks in 4 years plus wholesale. Mad really but good