While the UK’s independent broadband provider (altnet) sector has seen marked growth across the course of the past five years as a whole, recent research from Point Topic has found the altnet has also struggled with economic headwinds to focus on repaying gigabit network investment, and with such dynamics making conditions ripe for M&A and consolidation, it’s perhaps no surprise that Telecom Acquisitions Limited (TAL) has agreed partnerships with ISPs No One and Link Broadband to acquire customers signed up to the growing CityFibre gigabit network.
No One started operations in November 2020 with clearly stated goals: first, to provide better broadband than the bigger players, and second, to deliver the best customer service possible.
It decided to focus on delivering CityFibre-based full-fibre broadband packages, and over the past three years, having started its first service in the Worthing area in 2021, it has since gone nationwide and grown to deliver residential broadband to almost 3,000 customers.
Link Broadband said it is committed to making the internet simple for all clients to connect across both its network and a National Network. Its vision is to lead the market with services that harness the potential of the internet and then differentiate with customer service.
TAL brands Home Telecom, Fleur Telecom and Eclipse Broadband have an established strategic partnership with TalkTalk, and more recently, Aurora Telecom, which is commencing a UK roll-out. Commenting on the rationale for the buyouts, TAL CEO Nigel Barnett said he has never regretted entering the altnet arena, and claimed the partnerships he is forging are a win-win for all parties.
“These two companies have a successful business specialising in B2B space, and have large customer bases on other altnets,” he said.
“All customers joining the TAL group service will receive 24/7 customer support, which has received over 10,000 reviews on Trustpilot with an ‘Excellent’ rating of 4.5 stars,” said Barnett. “We are also very proud to hold ISO27001 and ISO9001 accreditation, fully UK-based and award-winning billing and the unique ability to provide nationwide broadband coverage.”
CityFibre itself has also recently joined the altnet acquisition action, and is increasing its footprint by up to 300,000 premises by taking over Lit Fibre (Lit) from Newlight Partners.
CityFibre regards Lit as having a “significant and complementary” network footprint that has been deployed to a high standard and uses compatible 10Gbps XGS-PON network architecture that it’s been rolling out across the UK since 2023. These attributes, it said, will help accelerate the speed at which it’s able to integrate Lit’s network and make it available to partners, while proving its ability to maintain the current service levels it provides its customers.
Another recent altnet acquisition saw Focus Group buy Datasharp, a Truro-based provider of business technology offerings including voice, connectivity, IT and Wi-Fi, copy-print-scan systems, and infrastructure.
