Community Fibre, Virgin Media mark full-fibre milestones

In a move that shows the momentum at both ends of the UK’s gigabit connectivity sector and across the country, London-based UK alternative broadband network provider (altnet) Community Fibre has announced it has connected more than 300,000 residents and businesses across the capital with its full-fibre network, while Virgin Media gigabit broadband is now available to 11,000 more homes in Huddersfield for the first time.

With a fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network covering 1.3 million properties in London, which is over one-third of homes in the capital, Community Fibre is owned by funds advised by Warburg Pincus LLC, DTCP Railpen and NDIF, and claims to be the UK capital’s largest 100% full-fibre broadband provider.

The altnet’s initial £400m funding in 2020, followed by a finance facility of £985m closed in October 2022, is designed to fulfil its plan to roll out a full-fibre broadband network to 2.2 million London homes by the end of 2024.

The provider expanded its network footprint by 75% in the 12 months to February 2024, claiming to have firmly established itself as a faster, more sustainable and more affordable broadband provider. It now says it has seen an 85% increase in its customer base in the past 12 months as more people look to alternative networks for faster, more affordable fibre broadband. The company also announced it has been EBITDA-positive throughout Q2 2024.

The company’s product portfolio, ranging from 35 Mbps to 10 Gbps, is claimed by the company as boasting some of the fastest symmetrical download and upload speeds in the country, as well as leading the industry for customer service.

Community Fibre said the milestone shows it has chalked up “incredible success” battling against established competition and “proving” that the broadband market is undergoing a major shake-up. “The fact that so many customers have voted with their feet and moved from the large national providers to Community Fibre demonstrates the incredible success we are having,” said Community Fibre CEO Graeme Oxby. “We believe our unwavering focus on consistently delivering the best products, at the lowest prices with the best service versus all comers, is the rationale behind our success.”

Meanwhile, Virgin Media customers in Huddersfield can now sign up to services including Gig2 broadband, which offers top speeds of 2Gbps – 21 times faster than the local average. These connections are said to be perfect for busy households working remotely, streaming ultra HD TV shows and films, and video calling.

The network, built on behalf of Nexfibre, is the result of a £4.5bn investment from Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) shareholders, Liberty Global and Telefónica, alongside investment firm InfraVia Capital Partners. The principal stated objective for Nexfibre is to roll out fibre initially to five million homes not currently served by the VMO2 network by 2026, with the opportunity to expand to an additional two million homes. VMO2 has an exclusive partnership with Nexfibre and is its anchor wholesale tenant.

VMO2 said it’s using this next-generation network to deliver its broadband and TV streaming services to homes and businesses in the area. “This is a huge step forward for our digital connectivity,” said councillor Graham Turner, cabinet member for finance and regeneration at Kirklees Council.

“Over the past few years, we know more people than ever before are working from home, gaming online and using streaming services every day. As we all conduct more of our lives online, digital connectivity becomes a crucial part of the infrastructure to support our modern lives.

“That’s why we’re currently investing in digital connectivity – for years, we have been committed to making Kirklees one of the most digitally connected councils, and will continue to work with organisations like Virgin Media to increase high-speed digital connectivity and bring better broadband to more people who live and work in the district,” he said. “With this latest work, 11,000 more people in Huddersfield can now benefit from fibre broadband – which could be up to 21 times faster than the current local average.”