Airband Community Internet has published its latest financial results for the year ended 2023, revealing the altnet ISP had rapid growth and strong investment to significantly extend its reach.
Openreach’s FTTP build rate accelerated to one million premises passed in Q4, up from 950,000 in the last quarter, spurred by a record 78k homes passed per week.
The company’s FTTP footprint is now over 14 million premises with a further six million where initial build is underway. This puts Openreach on track to reach 25m by December 2026.
With connections now key, Openreach saw net adds of 397k FTTP customers in Q4, meaning a total of 4.8m premises are now connected, with increased take-up rate of 34%.
DSIT has also notified Openreach of its preferred bidder status for Project Gigabit cross-regional supplier contract (Type C).
Openreach’s broadband ARPU in FY24 grew year-on-year by 10% to £15.1 due to price rises and increased volumes and mix of FTTP. Consumer broadband ARPU in FY24 increased 5% year-on-year to £41.2.
The Group’s revenue was up 1% at £20,797m, with adjusted EBITDA up 2% to £8,100m.
CEO Allison Kirkby said “Having passed peak capex on our full fibre broadband rollout and achieved our £3 billion cost and service transformation programme a year ahead of schedule, we’ve now reached the inflection point on our long-term strategy.
“We’re setting a further £3bn of gross annualised cost savings to be reached by the end of FY29.”