Netomnia Broadband ISP YouFibre to Launch UK Mobile Plans in 2025
The CEO of alternative broadband operator Netomnia, Jeremy Chelot, has provided a small update on what was previously merely a future aspiration to potentially introduce a mobile phone service to their retail ISP YouFibre (inc. Brsk). The plan now is to launch their first mobile plans sometime this year.
Just to recap. Netomnia is currently in the process of completing their merger with Brsk (here) and aims to expand their full fibre (FTTP) broadband network, which already covers over 2 million UK premises, to reach 3 million premises by the end of 2025 (inc. 1 million customers by 2028). The service is currently available across parts of over 90 cities and towns.
At present, the operator is still laser focused on broadband connectivity, although anybody who read our interview with Jeremy last April (here) will know that, when asked where the operator would be in 2030, he responded to say that they would “be in talks with a mobile operator to become a fixed and mobile provider“. But as it turns out, this seems to be happening considerably sooner than that.
Advertisement
According to a new interview with Jeremy, which was conducted by strategic consultancy firm Eight Advisory (see bottom of article for the video), the plan is to launch a mobile service this year. In addition, on the subject of FTTP take-up, Jeremy said their target is to hit 33% after 5 years, although “currently it sounds like we are getting there more in a 4-year type of period“, unless Openreach’s FTTP is there, then it tends to take about a year longer than that.
Jeremy Chelot, CEO of the Netomnia Group (inc. Brsk, YouFibre), said:
“There is a level of market share I will struggle to break, until I have a proposition which is a bit more complete. And that’s why we are planning to launch, for example, a mobile service at some point this year. Because I think otherwise there is a segment of the market that you can never tap.”
The difficulty above is that the mobile market is already extremely competitive and a lot of consumers often prefer to keep this part of their service separate (not bundled), as it allows for more flexibility when switching between deals. Lest we forget that trying to establish your own MVNO, assuming this is the approach Netomnia will take, can be an expensive process, and it’s one that doesn’t always work out (just ask TalkTalk).
In addition, once you have an MVNO relationship running, then that usually lasts 5-7 years before coming up for contract renewal. Often at this point, an internet provider may choose to switch Mobile suppliers, which is a process that can generate some problems for customers (SIM swaps, account/billing errors etc.) and thus a fair bit of negative press.
Suffice to say, ISPs need to take a lot of care when diving deep into mobile, although those that take a softer approach may sit at a disadvantage by virtue of only being able to offer less competitive plans. On the other hand, if anybody can come up with an attractive and different way of doing things, then Netomnia already has a good track record.
Advertisement
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.
« Internet Voice Provider Skype to Close Service in May 2025
CityFibre Closing in on £500m UK FTTP Broadband Funding Deal »
Advertisement
Leave a Reply
Privacy Notice: Please note that news comments are anonymous, which means that we do NOT require you to enter any real personal details to post a message. By clicking to submit a post you agree to storing your entries for comment content, display name, IP and email in our database, for as long as the post remains live.
Only the submitted name and comment will be displayed in public, while the rest will be kept private (we will never share this outside of ISPreview, regardless of whether the data is real or fake). This comment system uses submitted IP, email and website address data to spot abuse and spammers. All data is transferred via an encrypted (https secure) session.
Is there any value-add here from a technical perspective, such as enabling 5G failover of a YouFibre service while retaining the public IP, or is it just about being able to sell a combined broadband and mobile service to try and make customers a bit more sticky?
Simply because everyone else is doing it and consumers are taking dual/triple/quad packages.
Vodafone are doing dicounts for BB and mobile.
VMO2 has VOLT.
EE has discounted unlimited data sims for EE broadband customers.
BB+Mobile is the new BB+TV.
I guess even allowing unlimited usage during downtime on your service (once reported) and or while waiting for the installation would be useful. I got instance use very little data most months (couple of gig) but if my home internet went down could easily be doing 100G in a week
Hope they pick EE as only network I’ve found with consistent data speeds. All the rest over utilised in all the areas I’ve been around. I know some other areas might have great 5G with another network, but I’ve tried all of the actual operators and EE was the best.
Also they need to compete with Mozillions 24 month £149 for 100gb per month EE 5g uncapped speed and 25gb Europe and Switzerland roaming, unlimited mins and texts. That’s going to be tough…..
I’ve found EE to be the worst for data speeds in busier areas, with me having a strong 5G signal, but unable to actually use the internet as requests keep timing out. On a few occasions I’ve had a 3 SIM in my phone and been able to switch to that and have working internet in the same area.
However, in rural areas, I agree that EE is generally better. That’s not much help when you’re trying to load a reservation in central London, or be staying in a hotel near a football stadium when there’s a match on.
honestly don’t see the need for this, all they are going to do is resell another major brand product, the only one they can kinda do anything with is Three, and that is just dreadful in 99% of places.
Such a shame, rather see them worry about just the fttp side of things, which they are doing extremely well, they need more uptake nationally, they could easily become the no.1 imo.
They have the right attitude.
Customers on the doorstep will say they have one bill for their bb, mobile and tv. If there’s no comparable offer the customer will often stay where they are.
Have you been in 99% of places in the U.K. to know that Three is terrible in 99% of places?
I find Vodafone is pretty bad around here, but no doubt it is fine in other places.
I must admit, I would not normally put my eggs in one basket, did it a couple of times, but it did nto work out as planned, but if Zzoomm or who ever they are now decided to do the same thing, I may have a look. At the moment I am with Smarty and not sure what will happen once Vodarubbish and Three merges and not sure if I want anything to do with Vodfone.
I’m guessing they’re likely going to use Three UK has their wholesale prices are pretty low. Likely to keep the trend of lower prices being a altnet.
And so they’ve got a claim such as our MVNO uses “The UK’s fastest 5G network”.
In not many places:)
I think EEs 5G SA might start to rival that too as it gets deployed more….
They won’t go with Three.
Netomnia is well aware of the VF merger. They’d go with VF instead if they wanted Three. The end game result will be the same within a few years.