Picture this: the UK fibre market is like a high-stakes poker game, and everyone’s betting big.

BT Openreach? They’re the house, playing with loaded dice. Virgin Media O2 is the slick card shark with years of experience.

And then you’ve got the plucky Alternative Network Providers (altnets) – those small but feisty fibre builders hoping to cash in before the table flips.

But there’s one problem. This table’s crowded.

Everyone’s elbowing for room, digging up roads, laying fibre like there’s no tomorrow, and hoping to sign up customers faster than the next crew.

It’s chaotic. It’s expensive. And it’s starting to look a lot like the cable TV market back in the day.

So, what happened to those cable cowboys, and what can fibre players learn to avoid riding off into the sunset with empty pockets?

A Quick Recap: The Fibre Free-For-All

Right now, the fibre market in the UK is buzzing with action. Openreach dominates, but Virgin Media O2 is rolling out Project Lightning faster than ever.

Then there are the altnets – CityFibre, Hyperoptic, Gigaclear, and dozens of others – laying fibre at breakneck speed. It’s like every man and his dog has a broadband company.

But let’s be real. Not all of them are going to make it.

There’s just not enough room for 100+ fibre networks. That means one thing: consolidation. And it’s going to get messy.

The Cable TV Deja Vu

If this all sounds familiar, that’s because it is.

Rewind to the late 90s, and cable TV was the hot new thing. Everyone thought they’d get rich building local networks.

Fast forward a few years, and the market was a patchwork mess. Different networks, incompatible technology, and frustrated customers.

It wasn’t long before the big players started gobbling up the smaller ones.

Eventually, after much trial, error, and the occasional meltdown, NTL and Telewest emerged from the rubble and merged into Virgin Media.

But the scars? They stuck around for years. The biggest headache? IT systems integration.

The IT Disaster That Haunted Cable

Imagine merging two companies and finding out one uses Windows 95 while the other is running something from the future.

Billing systems didn’t talk to each other. Customer service was a nightmare. People were getting disconnected for no reason. It was, to put it mildly, a mess.

Yet the truth is: the fibre market’s flirting with the same disaster.

Some altnets are so focused on digging trenches that they’re barely paying attention to IT.

That’s fine … until they try to merge with someone else and realise their billing systems might as well be written in Morse Code.

So, What Can Fibre Players Do to Dodge the Chaos?

Here’s the good news: the mistakes of the past are there to be learned from. The altnets that survive and thrive will be the ones that get ahead of the game.

What does a survival guide for a UK altnet look like?

Build IT Like You Mean It.  Don’t skimp on your tech stack. Get a scalable, cloud-based IT system that can grow with you. Billing, CRM, provisioning – make sure it all works like a well-oiled machine. When the consolidation wave hits, you’ll look like a snack to potential buyers (or you’ll be the one doing the buying).

Be Obsessed with Customer Experience. When mergers happen, the last thing you want is customers jumping ship because of service glitches. Make sure installations are smooth, billing is simple, and support is top-notch. If you make life easy for customers, they’ll stick around.

Don’t Get Greedy. Building everywhere sounds great until you realise you’re stretched too thin. Focus on strategic areas where you can dominate. It’s better to own a few towns outright than to fight for scraps in every city.

Stay Flexible. Design your network and systems to play nicely with others. If someone wants to merge with you (or you with them), being interoperable will make the process 10x easier.

Build a Killer Brand. CityFibre might have deep pockets, but the most trusted brand wins in the end. Focus on local marketing, great service, and building a community around your network. If customers love you, they’ll fight to keep you around.

The Altnet Action Plan

So, when should altnets start all this? Yesterday!

But if not yesterday, then. right. now!

Next 6-12 Months:

Lock down your IT infrastructure. Invest in scalable platforms.

Sharpen your customer service game. Make sign-ups and support seamless.

Focus your rollout. Quality over quantity.

12-24 Months:

Start conversations with potential partners. Consolidation is coming – be on the front foot.

Position your brand as a leader in key areas.

Build operational efficiencies so you’re profitable. Profit before growth.

Longer-Term:

Be ready to either lead a merger or make yourself an attractive target. Build with the long game in mind.

The Bottom Line

The fibre market is like a gold rush. The ones who win aren’t just the fastest diggers, but the smartest planners.

The altnets who invest in IT, focus on customers, and build strategically will be the last ones standing when the dust settles.

The others? That’s easy! They’ll be watching from the sidelines.

About the author

David Hilliard is founder of Mentor, specialists in strategic program execution.

You can call him on 0118 359 2444 or email david.hilliard@mentoreurope.com.