{"id":44510,"date":"2026-01-22T08:36:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T08:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=44510"},"modified":"2026-01-22T08:55:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T08:55:45","slug":"cityfibre-report-848k-broadband-users-as-fttp-covers-4-7-million-uk-premises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/01\/cityfibre-report-848k-broadband-users-as-fttp-covers-4-7-million-uk-premises.html","title":{"rendered":"CityFibre Report 848K Broadband Users as FTTP Covers 4.7 Million UK Premises"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK’s largest alternative 10Gbps capable full fibre (FTTP<\/a>) broadband operator, CityFibre<\/a>, 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).<\/p>\n

The network operator has long aspired to reach up to 8 million UK premises \u2013 representing c.30% of the UK, but their original target of hitting that by the end of 2025 has been missed. Instead, they\u2019ve more recently been looking to boost coverage via greater consolidation of rival networks (here<\/a> and here<\/a>) and coverage expansion under c.\u00a3860m worth of Project Gigabit<\/strong> 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).<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> The operator is owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, Goldman Sachs, Mubadala Investment Company, Interogo Holding etc. The network is supported by UK ISPs such as Vodafone<\/a>, TalkTalk<\/a>, Zen Internet<\/a>, Sky Broadband<\/a> and more (local ISP availability does vary).<\/div>\n

Despite those challenges, the operator secured a crucial UK funding agreement worth \u00a32.3bn in July 2025 (here<\/a>) and also saw major ISP Sky Broadband<\/a> begin to offer services over their network to consumers at speeds of up to 5Gbps (here<\/a>). The latter has been helping to give CityFibre<\/a> a strong boost in customer growth over the past few months.<\/p>\n

For example, Q4 saw an average of more than 50,000 new customers installed each month, a 112% increase year-on-year. CityFibre<\/a> 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<\/em>,” said the operator.<\/p>\n

On the financial front, company revenues reached \u00a3170 million in 2025 (up 27% year-on-year), with consumer revenue growth of 50%. Adjusted EBITDA also surged 480% to \u00a329 million. CityFibre thus said they “exited 2025 strongly<\/em>“, with annualised run rates over Q4 of \u00a3200m revenue and over \u00a350m adjusted EBITDA. But we don’t get any updated figures on their losses and employee count.<\/p>\n

Simon Holden, Chief Executive Officer at CityFibre, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCityFibre\u2019s 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<\/a> Openreach<\/a> and deliver significant benefits for the UK.<\/p>\n

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.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/a>, Gigaclear<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Finally, CityFibre has reaffirmed that one of their strategic priorities is to “expand our wholesale-only network to more than 8m UK premises<\/em>“, 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.<\/p>\n

CityFibre Results to end of Dec 2025 – Summary<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/td>\nFY 2025*<\/strong><\/td>\nFY 2024<\/strong><\/td>\n% Change YoY<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Revenue<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a3170m<\/td>\n\u00a3134m<\/td>\n+27%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Consumer Revenue<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a3114m<\/td>\n\u00a376m<\/td>\n+50%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Adjusted EBITDA <\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a329m<\/td>\n\u00a35m<\/td>\n+480%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Consumer Customer Connections<\/strong><\/td>\n330k<\/td>\n181k<\/td>\n+82%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Consumer Customer Connections (Cumulative)<\/strong><\/td>\n848k<\/td>\n518k<\/td>\n+64%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Premises Passed (Cumulative) <\/strong><\/td>\n4.7m<\/td>\n4.4m<\/td>\n+7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Premises RFS (Cumulative)<\/strong><\/td>\n4.5m<\/td>\n4.1m<\/td>\n+10%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Continued, record customer growth: <\/strong><\/p>\n