Merged UK Rural Broadband Networks Form Freedom Truespeed Group

Alternative gigabit broadband operators Truespeed and Freedom Fibre, which back in February 2026 revealed their intention to merge (here), have today announced the formal completion of that deal and the creation of a newly consolidated brand under the FreedomTruespeed Group.

Just to recap. Truespeed had previously rolled out their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across 177,000 premises (44k customers) in rural parts of South West England. Meanwhile, Freedom Fibre had expanded their own gigabit fibre network to cover c.350,000 premises (inc. 25,000 customers) across various parts of England.

The February 2026 agreement thus aimed to create a “scaled, capital-efficient full fibre platform” that could play a “leading role in the ongoing consolidation of the UK alternative network sector“. The announcement promised to deliver a combined footprint of 412,000 premises ‘Ready for Service’ (earlier figures likely include some non-RFS premises) and 70,000 customers, while also expanding their reach via existing wholesale partners in the retail ISP space.

The deal has now reached completion, with the combined business now pledging to operate as the Freedom Truespeed Group. For customers and partners, there is said to be “no immediate change to how services are delivered or how the business operates“.

Freedom Fibre will continue as the group’s wholesale network, working with its established partners, while Truespeed and LilaConnect will remain as customer-facing retail ISP brands across the expanded footprint. All of this is being backed by existing investment partners Aviva Investors, InfraBridge, and Equitix.

Nathan Vautier, CEO of the Freedom Truespeed Group, said:

“The completion of this merger is an important milestone for both businesses. By bringing together Truespeed and Freedom Fibre, we have created a stronger platform with the scale, capabilities and financial strength to compete effectively in the UK market. We remain focused on delivering high-quality connectivity for our customers and supporting our partners as we move into this next phase.”

The announcement noted that the combined network benefits from strong regional density and limited overlap. The business is also said to be “virtually unlevered, providing a strong financial foundation to support future investment and long-term growth“.

Otherwise, the focus in the near term will be on “maintaining service continuity and outstanding customer service“, while planning the integration of systems, processes and teams in a “phased and considered way” (network and systems integration is usually a slow, costly and complex exercise).

The combined group is naturally much bigger, but at the same time they’re still not big enough to be considered a true scale player and thus further consolidation in the future still seems likely to follow.