BT Openreach full fibre broadband passes 15 million premises

BT have released their trading update for the three months to 30th June 2024, revealing an FTTP build of over 1 million premises passed in the quarter.

Openreach full fibre broadband is now available to 15 million premises, with 4.2 million in rural areas and a further 6 million where build is already underway.

BT Group's Openreach network aims to cover a total of 25 million premises with full fibre broadband by the end of 2026.

Credit: Peter_Fleming/Shutterstock.com

Full fibre build

BT's report reveals a record full fibre to the premises build of over 1 million premises passed in the quarter to end of June 2024, with a continued build rate of 78,000 premises per week.

Openreach's FTTP footprint now stands at 15 million premises, including 4.2 rural premises passed and around a further 6 million premises where the initial build is already underway.

The provider plans to reach a total of 25 million premises by the end of 2026, with the possibility of eventually passing 30 million between 2028 and 2030, likely making them the biggest full fibre network in the UK.

One issue that may hold Openreach back however is their use of the older specification GPON full fibre technology which has a top speed of 2.5Gbps down and 1.25Gbps up. While there are plenty of rumours that Openreach are already preparing their network for an XGS-PON upgrade, other networks like CityFibre and Virgin Media's Nexfibre are already laying 10Gbps connections.

For now, however, the fastest broadband available on Openreach's FTTP network is 1.6Gbps, which is currently offered by both Vodafone and EE and priced from £70 per month.

Customer base

BT Group's quarterly report reveals their wholesale full fibre customer base has reached 5 million, with FTTP orders up 29% year-on-year, and holding a healthy take-up rate of 34%.

BT's retail consumer full fibre customer base also grew to 2.6 million, with a further 0.1 million business customers, giving a year-on-year growth of 36%.

Despite this, overall consumer base numbers for the provider fell 28,000 in the quarter, as well as 196,000 line losses from the Openreach wholesale platform due to a combination of customers moving to other competitors and less new homes being built that would otherwise increase demand.

As a result, it's also been reported BT shares opened lower at 3.9% this morning, with a 2% decline in its total revenue of £5.05 billion for the quarter.

Allison Kirkby, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said, "We've made a solid start to the year, with excellent growth in both fibre build and connections, and increased EBITDA.

"Openreach continues to build at pace and with even more efficiency, passing the milestones of 5 million connections and - just yesterday - 15 million premises built. In Consumer, the widespread availability of FTTP and 5G combined with our new EE propositions has contributed to an improved trend in our customer base, in what remains a very competitive market. In Business, we also saw improved trends, as we continue to modernise our portfolio and our operations towards a simpler business, delivering secure, cloud-based connectivity and communication services for all our customers.

"Our ongoing cost transformation contributed to EBITDA growth, and more than offset the expected revenue declines in Consumer and Business in the quarter. There is much more to do to simplify BT Group and deliver for our customers. We remain on track to deliver our financial outlook for this year and our cash flow inflection to c. £2.0bn in 2027 and c. £3.0bn by the end of the decade.".