Full Fibre Wacky Races 5 – my latest & most comprehensive review of the UK full fibre market in 2025

Presented at LINX 124 in London on 2 June 2025, this is an expanded and updated version of the 20-minute Full Fibre Wacky Races presentations I did at Channel Live 2025 and Connected North 2025. With 10 extra minutes, I added content from:
Eight Advisory
Allison Kirkby, Chief Executive of BT Group
Guy Miller, CEO of MS3 Networks
Sean Royce, CEO of Quickline Communications
Thinkbroadband

Plus, an update from Rajiv Datta, CEO of nexfibre, on nexfibre’s strategy shift from build to acquisition. There’s also a 15-minute Q&A at the end.

Big thanks to Clive Selley, Richard Knowles, Jon Carter, Katie Milligan, Matthew Dexter & team at Openreach, Rajiv Datta at nexfibre, Greg Mesch & Will Brayne at CityFibre, Jeremy Chelot at Netomnia/YouFibre, Andy Conibere & Rhiannon O'Neill at Trooli, Nathan Vautier & Marie Danby at Freedom Fibre, Graeme Oxby at Community Fibre Limited, Nathan Rundle at Gigaclear, Matthew Hare at Zzoomm/FullFibre Limited, Mark Jackson at ISPreview.co.uk, Chris Stening & Mark Menzies at Eight Advisory, Allison Kirkby at BT Group, Guy Miller at MS3, Sean Royce at Quickline, and Sebastien Lahtinen at Thinkbroadband for providing comment and content for my presentation.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 – Intro Jennifer Holmes, CEO of Linx
0:15 – Zen purpose: Do right for people and planet
0:51 – Zen's strategy to become the UK’s Alt-Net aggregator of choice
3:07 – The big Alt-Net consolidation
7:14 – The decade of full fibre
7:57 – The great Alt-Net gamble
8:31 – An industry under a lot of pressure!
10:17 – Ready For Service league table
12:30 – Nathan Rundle, CEO Gigaclear
13:30 – Graeme Oxby, CEO Community Fibre
14:21 – Jeremy Chelot, CEO Netomnia
15:42 – Nathan Vautier, CEO Freedom Fibre
16:04 – Andy Conibere, CEO Trooli
16:28 – Vauban Infrastructure Partners
17:09 – Eight Advisory: UK fibre financing – are capital structures sustainable?
19:25 – CityFibre + CEO Greg Mesch
21:32 – VMO2 + nexfibre, Rajiv Datta – nexfibre CEO
24:23 – Openreach + CEO Clive Selley
26:58 – BT Group Chief Exec Allison Kirkby
29:56 – Guy Miller, CEO MS3, & Sean Royce, CEO Quickline
31:51 – The world is your full fibre oyster!
33:03 – Q1: What percentage of UK can get full fibre & what percentage take it up?
36:05 – Q2: Will there be a price war at the end of the consolidation?
39:34 – Q3: Where is the value in an Alt-Net network, that causes lenders to lend?
42:32 – Q4: Are Alt-Nets technically compatible with each other?
45:22 – Q5: Will there be an Alt-Net Aggregator Wacky Races?