Although BT, Virgin Media and Sky might remain the most well-known names in UK broadband, there are a great number of challenger brands fighting the incumbent internet service providers (ISPs) on speed and price. But those rivals can only offer service to Brits if they have access to different fibre broadband networks, meaning not all broadband companies can offer services nationwide.
In a step to help correct that, broadband firm Hyperoptic has announced it will extend the availability of its fibre broadband services to “an additional one million UK homes, via the Openreach network.”
Hyperoptic is one of the UK’s alternative networks (alt-nets) that until now has provided fibre broadband packages to 64 UK towns and cities with its own private fibre network. With this latest announcement, the firm has said it will begin to use the BT-owned Openreach network in other areas in order to offer its services in more places.
Other alt-nets include CityFibre, Community Fibre, Gigaclear and Trooli.
“To support our growth ambition, and to bring the Hyperoptic experience to more consumers, we have taken a strategic decision to make our services available via the Openreach platform from next year,” said Hyperoptic CEO and co-founder, Dana Tobak CBE.
“This expansion is good news for both existing consumers and new customers looking to improve their service. Our research highlights that most customers who leave us do so because they’re moving home. We understand home movers would prefer to take their Hyperoptic service with them so today’s announcement will make that possible, and our customers can continue to enjoy Hyperoptic for many years.”
According to ThinkBroadband, the Openreach network serves 18.3 million homes and covers 55.4 percent of the UK. But Hyperoptic says it will only initially reach “at least one million” premises in the initial rollout of its Openreach service when it launches in Q1 2026. It has not confirmed which new areas of the UK it will service.
Hyperoptic confirmed it serves 1.9 million UK premises, but clearly believes it can only now grow further if it taps into a network apart from its own. Openreach says more than 650 service providers tap into its network to provide internet packages. These firms include TalkTalk, Plusnet, Sky, Vodafone and Zen.
At the time of writing, areas served by Hyperoptic can buy a 1Gbps fibre plan for £16 per month for the first 10 months, a very competitive price.
