UK Altnets Launch Infrastructure Sharing Venture to Tap New Markets

In a significant move for the UK telecommunications landscape, alternative broadband providers are banding together to create what industry observers are calling a potential game-changer for infrastructure sharing. According to reports from the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), twenty broadband altnets have established a cooperative venture that could dramatically reshape how fiber assets are utilized across the country.

Breaking Down Infrastructure Silos

What makes this development particularly noteworthy is its timing. The UK’s broadband market has seen explosive growth in alternative network providers in recent years, with numerous companies building competing fiber infrastructure. Now, rather than continuing down parallel paths, these former competitors are finding common ground through shared infrastructure.

“We’re ready to share our infrastructure and maximize the assets we own for the benefit of our sector as well as the mobile industry and data centers,” Guy Miller, CEO of MS3 Networks and chair of INCA’s infrastructure sharing group, told industry sources. His comments highlight the strategic shift from pure competition to selective cooperation.

The venture essentially creates a marketplace where altnets can commercialize their spare duct space, pole access, and dark fiber capacity. This represents a significant departure from the traditional model where each provider guarded their infrastructure investments closely.

Tapping Hidden Capacity

Perhaps the most striking revelation from industry analysis is the sheer scale of underutilized infrastructure that could now become available. Reports suggest there’s approximately 500,000 kilometers of spare fiber capacity across participating networks that hasn’t been easily accessible until now.

For context, that’s enough fiber to wrap around the Earth’s equator more than twelve times. The existence of this hidden capacity underscores how fragmented the altnet market had become, with multiple providers building overlapping networks in the same regions.

Miller emphasized the broader implications, noting that better utilization of existing assets could “save Altnets money, accelerate fiber deployment across the United Kingdom, and potentially reduce further need for completely new ducts and poles.” This addresses growing concerns about infrastructure duplication that has seen some neighborhoods confronted with multiple sets of new poles and dug-up streets.

Beyond Traditional Broadband Markets

What really sets this initiative apart is its ambition to move beyond the traditional broadband sector. The framework is specifically designed to attract mobile operators, data centers, tier-one carriers, and even hyperscalers—companies that typically operate at a much larger scale than regional altnets.

This represents a clever strategic pivot. While altnets have been focused on competing with Openreach for residential and business broadband customers, they’ve been sitting on infrastructure that could be valuable to entirely different sectors. The mobile industry, for instance, needs extensive optical fiber backhaul for 5G networks, while data center operators require dense connectivity between facilities.

Industry analysts suggest this could create significant new revenue streams for altnets that have been grappling with the high costs of network buildouts. Rather than relying solely on subscriber fees, they can now monetize their physical infrastructure assets directly.

Standardization as the Key Enabler

The success of this venture appears to hinge on the development of what participants are calling an “Infrastructure Sharing Framework.” According to documentation reviewed by industry sources, this framework establishes common product definitions, standardized terms and conditions, and consistent commercial and legal documents.

This standardization is crucial because it reduces the friction that typically ploys infrastructure sharing agreements. Instead of negotiating each deal from scratch, participants can work from a common template, dramatically speeding up the process.

The cooperative nature of the venture also distinguishes it from Openreach’s Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) framework. While PIA allows competitors to use Openreach’s infrastructure, this new initiative creates a peer-to-peer marketplace among equals.

Early indications suggest both asset owners and seekers can register with INCA for free to participate in the new marketplace. Participants will reportedly gain access to mapping systems showing available infrastructure locations—a critical component for potential users evaluating routes and connectivity options.

As one industry observer noted, if successful, this venture could not only improve the economics for individual altnets but also accelerate the UK’s broader digital infrastructure development. The coming months will reveal whether this cooperative model can deliver on its promise of reducing duplication while opening new revenue opportunities in the increasingly competitive telecommunications market.