CityFibre Report 848K Broadband Users as FTTP Covers 4.7 Million UK Premises

The UK’s largest alternative 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband operator, CityFibre, has today published their latest trading update to the end of 2025 and revealed that their network now covers 4.7 million premises (4.5m RFS). Customer take-up has also grown rapidly to total 848,000 (up by 64% from 518,000 at the same time last year).

The network operator has long aspired to reach up to 8 million UK premises – representing c.30% of the UK, but their original target of hitting that by the end of 2025 has been missed. Instead, they’ve more recently been looking to boost coverage via greater consolidation of rival networks (here and here) and coverage expansion under c.£860m worth of Project Gigabit contracts (public subsidy), while also having to deal with some of the same pressures as many other networks (e.g. high interest rates, rising build costs and competition).

Despite those challenges, the operator secured a crucial UK funding agreement worth £2.3bn in July 2025 (here) and also saw major ISP Sky Broadband begin to offer services over their network to consumers at speeds of up to 5Gbps (here). The latter has been helping to give CityFibre a strong boost in customer growth over the past few months.

For example, Q4 saw an average of more than 50,000 new customers installed each month, a 112% increase year-on-year. CityFibre says they’ve now exceeded 20% penetration across its consumer footprint and is on track to exceed 30% by the end of 2026. “In recent months, around 70% of households who were switching broadband provider were moved onto the CityFibre network where available,” said the operator.

On the financial front, company revenues reached £170 million in 2025 (up 27% year-on-year), with consumer revenue growth of 50%. Adjusted EBITDA also surged 480% to £29 million. CityFibre thus said they “exited 2025 strongly“, with annualised run rates over Q4 of £200m revenue and over £50m adjusted EBITDA. But we don’t get any updated figures on their losses and employee count.

Simon Holden, Chief Executive Officer at CityFibre, said:

“CityFibre’s wholesale business model has always set us apart and, as our network fills up with customers, we have the momentum to bring about a long-term, competitive alternative to BT Openreach and deliver significant benefits for the UK.

Looking ahead, our nationwide 10Gb XGS-PON network will enable our ISP partners to unlock all the power of Multi-Gig as we deliver future-proofed digital infrastructure for businesses, mobile operators and public sector partners throughout the UK. Following a landmark 2025, CityFibre is proving to be the network of choice and we enter 2026 with ever greater ambition.”

The big focus on CityFibre through 2026 is likely to be on their ambitions in the field of wider network consolidation, which has already seen them being linked to talk of a possible deal with Netomnia, Gigaclear and other alternative networks. But the company only has so much funding to throw around and may need to keep their powder dry for the deals that truly make sense.

Finally, CityFibre has reaffirmed that one of their strategic priorities is to “expand our wholesale-only network to more than 8m UK premises“, although as this is largely dependent upon consolidation agreements then they haven’t set a firm timescale for achieving it. But the decisions made in 2026 may well shape CityFibre’s future, as well as that of the entire UK market.

CityFibre Results to end of Dec 2025 – Summary

Continued, record customer growth:

• Installing over 50,000 customers on average each month over Q4, an increase of 112% YoY
• Now exceeding 20% penetration across consumer footprint, and projected to exceed 30% penetration by the end of 2026
• Added 330,000 new customers in 2025, an uplift of 82% YoY with growth across all ISP partners, reaching 848,000 customers in total
• Record 119,000 new customer connections in Q4 2025
• Sky launched across CityFibre’s nationwide network in July 2025, with ISP partners now representing around 50% UK broadband market share

Record revenue and profitability: 

• Revenue of £170m in 2025, up 27% YoY
• Consumer revenues increased 50%, to £114m
• Business revenues increased to £30m, including over 50% YoY growth in the Ethernet sector following the tripling of availability of CityFibre’s Ethernet services
• Adjusted EBITDA up 480% to £29m

Secured additional £2.3 billion in landmark financing to drive future network expansion:

• £500m in new equity from existing shareholders
• £960m expansion of existing debt facilities, alongside £800m accordion facility to drive M&A, of which £300m is already committed
• Full fibre footprint now at 4.7m premises, with proven acquisition capability for CityFibre to lead sector consolidation
• Connexin acquired in March 2025 and successfully integrated in less than seven months, bringing a choice of over 30 ISPs to Hull and East Riding

Completed 10Gb XGS-PON network upgrade, with Multi-Gig speeds rolled out nationwide:

• Reinforces CityFibre’s network superiority
• All new connections now 10Gb XGS-PON ready
• Network upgrade supports UK’s fastest and most reliable symmetrical wholesale service, with speeds of 2.5Gb, 5.5Gb and more to come
• CityFibre continues to raise the bar as the UK’s wholesale provider of choice offering ISP partners the best service, the best products and the best economics
• CityFibre is the first challenger network in the UK with accredited near-term carbon reduction targets with the SBTi
• Bringing benefits to homes, businesses and communities and driving innovation and growth for UK economy