arlier, home networking specialist Linksys published an article in which the company was keen to tell us about its new WiFi 6 products that it plans to sell through UK ISPs, citing Community Fiber as its latest reference customer.
Linksys notes that it is placing increasing emphasis on working with UK ISPs against the backdrop of strong growth in the FTTH market, previously aimed directly at consumers and the business sector. Market developments mean that altnet is "competing with established ISPs" to launch FTTH, which can help them "differentiate themselves from the competition".
It's a valid point; a whole host of UK fiber manufacturers expanding their footprint, as well as those still emerging, will soon be competing with each other - if they aren't already - and with the big guns.
Last week, for example, Zzoomm unveiled the names of eight market towns that will soon receive their full fiber infrastructure. altnet plans to expand fiber to another 56,000 sites, backed by up to £44 million in new investment.
In the meantime, Brsk has secured up to £103 million of debt investment from Ares Management Corporation's Infrastructure Debt Strategy managed fund, which could expand to £178 million over time to help fund the full fibre expansion. Thanks to a sniff from ISP Review, Brsk is offering fibre broadband in parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire.
CityFibre, one of the UK's largest alternative network operators, is also rapidly increasing its footprint. The company, which has just undergone a rebranding over the summer, made almost daily announcements in the first week of September detailing new locations for its network build-out. cityFibre is certainly a wholesaler, but its ISP customers will feel the heat of the competition in the UK.
Speaking of competition, KCom revealed a few days ago that it will spend £100 million to build a complete fiber infrastructure in the northeast of England, a move apparently designed to help it keep its finger on the competitive pulse. There are a lot of fiber manufacturers in that part of the country.
There are many fiber manufacturers around the country and around the world.
According to new research from Dell'Oro Group, total global revenues for the broadband access equipment market grew to $4.5 billion in the second quarter of 2022, up 12 percent year-over-year, driven by fiber deployments. The analyst firm noted that spending on PON equipment drove growth, with PON OLT revenues reaching a record $1.3 billion in the quarter.
"Operators in Europe, China and Southeast Asia increased their spending on PON equipment, offsetting some of the seasonal slowdown in North America," Jeff Heynen, vice president of broadband access and home networking at Dell'Oro Group, said in a statement accompanying the headline figures. "The transition to fiber is clearly a global phenomenon and is no longer limited to a few countries."
While many, if not most, UK alnets are so small that they barely make an impact on global analyst reports, in general, they are certainly making a difference.
More fiber networks means more overlap and more competition for customers. We're already starting to see it; Hyperoptic recently started poaching customers from the UK giants by offering up to nine months of free fiber broadband. That's a pretty brave move.
For Altnet to stay ahead of the curve, it will need more bowstrings and the ability to offer a better home experience, powered by WiFi6 routers and mesh WiFi routers, which will certainly help.
