BT Group PLC (LSE:BT.A) altnet rival Zzoomm is reportedly laying off half of its workforce, amounting to around 300 engineers and office workers, in a sign of trouble for the Oxfordshire-based full-fibre broadband provider.
Zzoomm aimed to cover one million premises across 85 UK towns with its FTTP network by the end of 2025.
As reported by The Telegraph today, the group currently has a 135,000-strong household footprint with a 7% uptake rate.
Zzoomm, as well as the rest of the altnet sector, is facing a myriad of issues, predominantly significant pricing pressure from market leader BT Openreach under its controversial Equinox 2 wholesale discount programme.
BT and the other market leader Virgin Media O2 are implementing an aggressive full-fibre build-out across the UK alongside an active takeover strategy, with VMO2 reportedly in talks to acquire major altnet provider CityFibre.
Zzoomm, which is owned by US investment firm Oaktree Capital Management, was among the bidders for competing altnet Trooli in March, before being trumped by Agnar UK Infrastructure.
High interest rates are also severely limiting smaller firms’ access to funding needed to commit to full-fibre rollout targets.