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Digi Comms Acquires 51 Percent Stake in UK Broadband Altnet Whyfibre

Monday, Mar 23rd, 2026 (12:04 pm) - Score 1,160
fibre optic red and blue broadband cables 2018

Romanian multinational telecommunications and mobile operator company Digi Communications N.V. has entered the United Kingdom’s fibre optic broadband market by acquiring 51% of the share capital of alternative network provider WhyFibre, which was conducted via Digi’s subsidiary Fiber One Limited. A pilot of their new FTTP network is now in the works.

The move is interesting as WhyFibre has been around and building a new gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in Southern England for several years (here and here). But the operator’s website remains somewhat of a holding page and we still don’t know of any retail ISPs that sell packages over their network. The company’s latest micro accounts also suggest only limited activity (here).

However, back in 2025 some of ISPreview’s readers noticed that a business called FiberOne (American spelling) had been spotted building a new FTTP network in the Hertfordshire (England) town of Letchworth, which when challenged said they were working on behalf of WhyFibre.

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The contractor appeared to be laying fresh fibre via Openreach’s existing cable ducts (PIA) and similar activity was later spotted in locations such as Luton, Normanton and Hitchin (often locations with plenty of rival gigabit networks present). But until now we haven’t received any major or official announcements to help elaborate on their plans, network coverage or service availability.

Statement by Digi Communications N.V.

The Company hereby informs investors that it has taken the initial steps to enter the telecommunications market in the United Kingdom. On 19 March 2026, its wholly owned subsidiary incorporated in England, Fiber One Ltd., acquired 51% of the share capital of Whyfibre Limited, which owns a fibre network currently under deployment in the counties of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire in southern England (the “Network”). Fiber One Ltd. is the operator of the Network and expects to commence the provision of fixed broadband services on a pilot basis in the near future.

The new announcement is very short and oddly includes no comments from any management figures, but crucially it does indicate that a pilot of their new full fibre broadband services will follow in the “near future“. Hopefully that means they’ll soon be hiring somebody to do a bit of marketing and explain their strategy or plan.

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Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
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 .
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Comments
7 Responses

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  1. Avatar photo Jonny says:

    It’s a leap to call Whyfibre an altnet. In theory I live somewhere that can be connected, but I also have CityFibre and Openreach available so the offering from Digi would have to be something special.

  2. Avatar photo Name says:

    Interesting move, Digi became a major player in Spain and Belgium already. They definitely have money to build network rapidly and don’t look back.

    1. Avatar photo sniff says:

      Digi have their fibre installed on our Tenerife complex and costs €10 a month for 500Mbps.

  3. Avatar photo MissTuned says:

    Whyfibre? More like “Who?” Fibre.

  4. Avatar photo Some Edinburgh Guy says:

    lol. Isn’t this the outfit that was randomly burying fibre cables for no apparent reason (discussed on a forum thread here on ISP Review) and not selling any service through it? Considering how they’ve not even got a single customer using their network, this activity of a Romanian company buying a 51% stake in it is…. mildly amusing.

  5. Avatar photo Winston Smith says:

    The FT similarly has no clue why.

    Europe’s biggest telecoms disruptor takes on . . .  suburban England?

    1. Avatar photo MissTuned says:

      Seems like the mysterious “WhyFibre” may have been a Trojan horse for Digi all along. That would explain why they installed fibre but never launched a public website or made any kind of move towards providing a public service.

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