BT Openreach has confirmed that 10 million premises are now connected to its full-fibre broadband network, up from 9.6 million at the end of December, with the company passing over 700,000 premises in the fourth quarter of 2022 alone.
ISPreview reported that three million customers are now connected, indicating a strong demand for high-speed, fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband.
“We are really pleased to have hit the 10 million milestone, very pleased that customers are connecting at pace, and we’re really focused on the second 10 million,” said BT Openreach chief executive Clive Selley, adding: “We're building faster than ever and we're connecting faster than ever.”
The milestone comes as BT Openreach plans to introduce its contention Equinox 2 wholesale discount package to internet service providers (ISPs).
Communications regulator Ofcom initially gave the nod to Equinox 2’s April 1 launch, but following pressure from the UK altnets and competitors Virgin Media O2 and CityFibre, Ofcom has delayed the launch by two months.
Deutsche Bank analysts noted that UK altnets collectively passed more than the 3 million new FTTP connections built by BT Openreach in 2022, but noted a lag to customer take-up “as sometimes unknown brands market their new wares”.
BT Openreach plans to have over 25 million homes connect to FTTP infrastructure by the end of 2030.