Persimmon Sells UK Full Fibre Broadband ISP FibreNest to BUUK UPDATE
Property developer Persimmon Homes (Persimmon Plc) has this morning announced that they’ve sold their sibling broadband ISP, FibreNest, which offered internet packages to homeowners on the developments where they’d deployed their own “full fibre” (FTTP) lines, to alternative network provider BUUK Infrastructure (aka – GTC, OFNL – Open Fibre Networks Limited).
Much like Persimmon’s approach with FibreNest, OFNL provides open access Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) broadband networks that offer residents and businesses ultrafast connectivity on new build developments. But unlike Persimmon, OFNL is not restricted to only working with a single property developer and at the last update its network had already covered around 169,000 new build homes (14th May 2025 estimate via Thinkbroadband).
By comparison, FibreNest is a younger project (started 2018) and the network it reflects has so far covered 54,000 premises of Persimmon’s new build homes (14th May 2025 estimate). The provider has also faced some criticism due to the lack of ISP options on their network (example). FibreNest do claim to offer a wholesale solution, but no other ISPs have found their offer attractive enough to adopt.
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In that sense, today’s announcement of Persimmon’s sale of FibreNest’s full fibre broadband service to BUUK Infrastructure could be significant, both for existing homeowners within their respective developments and their future ability to expand. In addition, it will also make the overall and now much larger network more attractive as a consolidation target for bigger fish.
The discounted total enterprise value for the sale is c. £100m, with £70m received upon completion and further payments contingent on business performance over the coming years. Persimmon’s Board intends to use the proceeds from the sale of this non-core asset to invest further in its growth strategy.
The sale will also remove the need for the ongoing investment that FibreNest would have required in the coming years, providing additional capital for Persimmon to allocate to deliver its medium-term growth ambitions.
Dean Finch, Group Chief Executive, said:
“The sale will provide greater choice to FibreNest customers and allows Persimmon to invest further in our growth strategy. By partnering with BUUK we have been careful to select a well-respected operator that is committed to excellent service.”
The announcement makes clear that, under BUUK’s ownership, FibreNest will be able to offer improved choice for customers, with access to up to 18 other broadband ISPs to choose from (although most of them do follow a roughly similar level of pricing and service quality on OFNL’s network). The sale is expected to complete, subject to regulatory clearance, within 3 months. Credits to one of our readers, Tom, for spotting the development.
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Furthermore, it’s worth reminding our readers that OFNL also has a partnership with Virgin Media (details), which makes it possible for homeowners on many of their sites to access Virgin’s services too. In theory, it’s conceivable that this dual duct agreement could now be extended to include FibreNest’s sites too, although that has yet to be confirmed and may require additional considerations (e.g. we don’t know if FibreNest’s network or the sale agreement can be adapted in this way).
UPDATE 12:47pm
OFNL has now put out an announcement, which includes a quote.
John Marsh, Director OFNL, said:
“This acquisition marks a significant milestone for our business, and we’re delighted to welcome FibreNest customers to OFNL. OFNL has a wealth of experience in the fibre market, with our Fibre-to-the Premises (FTTP) networks already delivering gigabit-capable speeds to many thousands of homes and businesses across the UK. In the coming months we plan to work through a programme to integrate our networks, which will ultimately deliver more choice and even better service to our customers in 2026.
We’re also thrilled to welcome the FibreNest team, whose skill, expertise and industry knowledge have been instrumental in their business success so far. We look forward to working together to deliver more resilient connectivity, growth and innovation to even more communities.”
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.
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A step in the right direction, albeit to a still somewhat restricted network provider.
Presumably the later bunch of new builds with Persimmon’s FibreNest would have had Openreach FTTP available anyway? I’m assuming that the exclusivity clause that OFNL and FibreNest have does not restrict Openreach.
No. Friends of mine live on Great Park in Newcastle upon Tyne and their only option, when purchasing a Persimmon home on the estate was to use Fibrenest. There is no Openreach deployment to their homes. They’re stuck with a monopoly player and they are not cheap – their 500MB is £49. I have 500mb out here in the sticks with Go Fibre and I am paying £33 for the same speed
As Jazzy has said, No. Where Persimmon deploy Fibrenest, they locked out Openreach and Virgin. There are Persimmon developments where, in initial phases, Openreach & Virgin are available but later phases only have FiberNest. This could be different sides of the same street.
Thanks for the clarification. That’s pretty shocking and surprising that developers put themselves in a position that doesn’t incentivise a sale. Makes me wonder what the incentive is for developers who sign exclusivity deals with the likes of OFNL.
I suspect that very few buyers check for broadband availability, and that OFNL gives developers a substantial kickback in exchange for exclusivity.
Very true. All other builders are locked out, the lands owned by Persimmon so Openreach and VM02 would never get permission to work to dig in their own duct. Ive seen it where phase 1 had both Openreach and fibre nest and phase 2 only fibre nest and phase 2 customers were complaining they had to pay huge prices and couldn’t get Sky etc.
Its shockingly bad. Make sure if you’re desperate enough to buy a new build you ask what ISPs are there!
£100m for a network covering 54k homes is £1,852 per property on the network.
That is why some developers choose to have a monopoly telecoms network on their new developments, with near 100% take-up rate guaranteed.
Generally it comes down to cost, plus bundling in other utilities means less money on groundworkers, less time with trenches open and a single point of contact for the developer.
OFNL and FibreNest are on 2 adjacent new build estates here in Banbury, so if a lot of their networks are following a similar pattern consolidation would make sense.
Great news for those with FibreNest – we live on an estate which is half covered by FibreNest and the other half being OFNL. However, I’ve been an OFNL customer for years now and we suffer the same issues with being monopolised, not being able to switch to any of the more traditional ISPs with better speeds and at a cheaper rate.
Hoping this merge makes it more apetising for the bigger fish to come and swoop the entire customer base!
Fibrenest is in no way, shape, or form ready for wholesale. While they have an offering, their network is a complete mess. It will take years to make the necessary improvements.
The network is awful. It’s absolutely buggered. The images we have of how it’s currently treated will shock the altnet world.
Oh this is interesting, look forward to seeing how this plans out
“Furthermore, it’s worth reminding our readers that OFNL also has a partnership with Virgin Media (details), which makes it possible for homeowners on many of their sites to access Virgin’s services too.” This is not true, you can’t have VMO2 services on OFNL. For the very short period of time VM was listed on OFNL residential ISP list but it disappeared.
Some sites have VMO2 live, others are waiting on VMO2 to build to the site. From what I’ve heard there is not much take up of services and those that do take VMO2 don’t stay after the introductory offer runs out
The problem with a lack of choice on these kinds of estates is similar to the lack of choice imposed on residents in multistory, multiresidency properties when many of the smaller providers supply the connection. Ofcom must update the regulations to prevent this lock-in from being allowed.
Both companies’ business models is exclusivity with developers to not have any competition.
This is one case where ofcom should rule that companies have a right to use their ducts. Them merging together makes them as big as KCOM who is already allowing their ducts