Survey Claims Smaller UK Firms Sceptical of Alternative Broadband Networks

A new survey conducted by business ISP and VoIP provider bOnline, which interviewed 407 small business owners during October 2024, has claimed that 74% of respondents are not sure if an alternative broadband network (altnet) is available in their area, and amongst those that believe there is, the majority (65%) have not yet tried to access them.

The top reasons for not giving an altnet a try appear to range from a belief that there will be no real price advantage (35%), to too much hassle to switch (30%), with 11% simply “not trusting them”. Trust and reputation is naturally something that grows organically with time (i.e. it’s always an issue for new entrants in any sector), although switching is now much easier with OTS and there usually is a price advantage to altnets (often a big one).

Summary of Additional Findings:

➤ 58% are unaware that there are now over 20 independent full-fibre altnets across the country

➤ 53% understand that major broadband service providers such as Sky Broadband and TalkTalk are not building out their own full-fibre networks, but providing their services via other network operators such as Openreach, Virgin Media and CityFibre (among others). The remainder either did not know (38%) or did not care (9%).

➤ 51% of all respondents also expressed concern over the reported levels of debt taken on by the altnets to build out their respective networks.

➤ 43% were not convinced that the level of choice being provided by the UK’s approach to introducing FTTP will be helpful, with half of those (52%) thinking the roll-out is “way too complicated”, while 10% felt that all the services will end up similarly priced and 7% are concerned that “many won’t survive”.

At present over 98% of UK premises are within reach of a 30Mbps+ capable “superfast” broadband service, which drops to over 85% for gigabit-capable (1000Mbps+) lines (mix of full fibre FTTP and hybrid fibre coax HFC). The vast majority of premises are served by ISPs that use Openreach’s (OR) network, while over half (17m+) can also access Virgin Media’s and nexfibre’s combined network (mostly in urban areas).

On top of that, there’s a huge and rapidly growing market for altnets, which often overbuild the incumbents. Some of the biggest are CityFibre (c.4 million premises), Hyperoptic (1.73 million with FTTP/B) and Netomnia (1.82 million), but there are many more (c.80 in total) and they now have a sizeable impact upon the market (covering c.35-40% of premises). See our Summary of Full Fibre Build Progress for more.

Anthony Karibian, CEO and founder of bOnline, said:

“Britain’s small and micro businesses deserve better and the country’s patchwork approach to building out its FTTP network is not helping. SME’s require solutions today that both enable them to compete on an equal footing with corporates and bring down their costs given the imminent squeeze on margins from the National Insurance increase. That is what bOnline is in the market doing – unlike the incumbents who continue to gouge their long tail of smaller customers with twice yearly price increases and the altnets whose primary focus is on the residential market.

Failure to properly mobilise the UK’s SMEs will only further hold back the country’s growth.”

Naturally, bOnline has its own vested interests here, which means that we have to take their survey with a pinch of salt. But the study does still manage to raise some relevant points about trust, familiarity and a lack of awareness about today’s market that remains very difficult to tackle. Not to mention that the more altnets and ISPs this market produces, the more complex and confusing it becomes for end-users, be they SMEs or consumers.

Some of this may be ironed out by natural market consolidation, but that will take time, and meanwhile altnets might be wise to increase their focus and marketing budgets toward growing more business customers.