Eight Advisory UK has released its latest Take-Up Tracker, building on its May 2024 study, which highlights a gradual increase in Altnet penetration across the UK broadband market. For the first time, the report incorporates cohort analysis to provide deeper insights into market dynamics and performance.
Despite the dominance of five major brands accounting for 90% of the consumer ISP market, alternative network providers (Altnets) are steadily making gains. However, they continue to face stiff competition from retail ISPs, aggressive pricing strategies, and overlapping network builds from Openreach. The report notes that many Altnets, when analyzed on a cohort basis, demonstrate an ability to outperform expectations and edge closer to the take-up levels required to reach EBITDA breakeven and long-term profitability.
Adam Bradley, Partner and European Telecoms Lead at Eight Advisory, commented, “Driving Take-up to improve profitability and achieve breakeven Is the top priority of most altnets and a critical consideration for the many active fibre financing and refinancing processes.
He added “With the slowdown of build for many in 2024, the expected market consolidation is also taking longer than many expected. In the meantime, many altnets continue to outperform their national market share expectations at a local cohort level.”
Eight Advisory’s findings signal cautious optimism for Altnets, as their ability to demonstrate competitive advantages at the cohort level could pave the way for sustained growth and market viability. The full report offers further analysis on how these trends are shaping the fibre broadband landscape.
