Speech by Simon Holden at Connected Britain 2025

Speech given by Simon Holden, CEO CityFibre, to the Connected Britain event, 24 September 2025, London

Good afternoon.

Let me start with a couple of thank-yous.

Firstly, to so many of you here who reached out to congratulate Greg on his extraordinary contribution to this industry during his time as founder and CEO of CityFibre – and for sending your best wishes to me as I took over the baton from him.

Secondly, thank you to Connected Britain for asking me to kick off this section of the agenda focused on hearing from key players shaping our digital future. 

Over the next hour you’ll hear from CEOs who are rightly proud of the progress their businesses are making. I want to use my time a little differently – not to dwell on CityFibre’s scoreboard, but to focus on the outcomes that matter to the UK.

My focus today is how we ensure scale serves competition – and competition serves the country.

Progress and momentum

In the last five years, thanks to determined entrepreneurs, forward-thinking policy and regulation, and ambitious capital providers, investment has flooded into the market.

Over £20 billion of private capital has been deployed and fibre now reaches nearly 80% of the country. In terms of coverage, this investment has had the desired effect and catapulted the UK from laggard to leader.

For consumers, businesses and ISPs, infrastructure choice is emerging, speeds and service quality are improving, and prices are falling.

Of the hundred or so altnet challengers, CityFibre is by far the largest and most established. As such, we can testify that the momentum towards long-term infrastructure competition is real – and is accelerating.

We’ve raised billions in financing and have steadily grown our footprint and our customer base. Most importantly, our mature, wholesale-only model means that our partners represent nearly 50% of the broadband market between them.

We are at an inflection point – orders and connections are accelerating fast, and our partners are outperforming on our infrastructure. The model is working, but it is early days.

Competition is not yet sustainable

Let me be clear: as encouraging as this progress is, competition in the market is not yet established, and it is not yet sustainable.

While coverage is reassuringly high, take-up is low. Only now are we starting to move out of the bottom quartile for full fibre adoption, and nationally, we’re still less than half the levels seen in France or Spain.

There are many reasons for this, and plenty being done to address it, but until enough customers have moved to Full Fibre and are switching freely across networks, we don’t have competition, we just have coverage.

Thankfully, both the government, in their draft Statement of Strategic Priorities, and Ofcom, in their proposals for the Telecoms Access Review, have recognised this and are acting accordingly.

And, as you would expect, BT is driving hard in the opposite direction.

Scale must serve competition – not suppress it. BT’s fibre rollout is vast. I respect the pace and conviction. But incumbent advantages – existing customer relationships, legacy infrastructure, brand and commercial influence – all cast a long shadow.

If left unchecked, progress will soon slip backwards, and BT will reassert the dominance it had in the copper market – over our full fibre future.

This cannot be allowed to happen. Ofcom and government must stand firm, support the conditions for competition to become established and ensure its benefits – for consumers and the country – are fully realised. Because it matters.

A scaled, open, wholesale challenger

But how can a fragmented array of challengers with different business models, funding runways and sales success ever hope to mount a credible and sustainable challenge to the incumbent? They can’t.

BT enjoys unparalleled economies of scale, and the most credible strategy to compete is to move beyond fragmentation and combine into a platform greater than the sum of its parts.

To create a scaled, open, wholesale challenger to Openreach.

Now we’re fortunate to work in an industry fuelled by entrepreneurial vision. Across the UK, remarkable leaders – many of whom are here today – have taken bold risks to build the networks, companies, and teams that are reshaping this market. It is this collective energy – the ambition and tenacity of the UK’s rising altnets – that has brought us to this point. But now, we must bring it together.

It can be easy to see this consolidation as a zero-sum game – but that would be a mistake. Consolidation can, and should, be win-win.

To altnet founders and investors, I’d say that consolidation is instead an opportunity to realise the value of your network.

At the same time, it allows for your dynamic retail brands to be unleashed, accessing gigabit speeds and low pricing, while addressing millions of new customers across a national wholesale footprint.

As part of a scale wholesale challenger to Openreach, the full potential of the infrastructure you have painstakingly built will be realised, providing all ISPs with a market-leading platform over which to transform the retail broadband market.

But I must be clear, timing matters. Markets reward clarity and speed. We can create more enduring value by combining now, than by waiting. If we can come together, we will soon build a business which scales across more than half of the UK – potentially bigger than Virgin Media.

Everyone has a role to play

The next five to ten years will shape the UK’s digital future. Either sustainable infrastructure competition takes root, or we slide back towards single-provider dominance. The door is open – but it will not stay open forever.

The question is not what could happen, but what should happen.

This market is not a spectator sport. It’s a shared responsibility to ensure the people of this country win. Because it matters.

Everyone has a role:

• Government: Treat infrastructure competition as economic policy, not just telecoms policy – because productivity, innovation and growth depend on it.
• Ofcom: Stand firm through this investment cycle. Judge success by take-up and switching, not by coverage.
• Investors: Back long-term value in scaled challengers, with the capability to execute and the discipline to endure.
• Altnets: Realise the value of your networks while unleashing your retail brands over a proven national wholesale platform.
• Households and Businesses: Demand better and vote with your feet – choice delivers speed, service and savings.

And CityFibre? We commit to remaining open-access, carrier-neutral, partner-first and service-obsessed. We will keep investing in the network and products that lead the market at lower prices that help drive take-up.

Infrastructure competition is a national imperative. It raises standards. It lowers prices. It creates jobs, fuels innovation and drives growth.

It is not just an outcome in which we should be interested – it is an outcome in which we must all be invested. It must reach scale and sustainability.

If we get this right, the benefits will be felt by your families and their futures – by every community, every business and everybody.

Let’s make it happen….

Because it matters!

Thank you.