Sky has opened exploratory talks with upstart rivals to BT’s network infrastructure arm Openreach in an attempt to accelerate the rollout of ultrafast “full fibre” broadband. Britain’s second-largest broadband provider has positioned itself as a potential kingmaker for new network owners as they race Openreach to connect homes with faster and more reliable fibre-optic lines. Ventures such as CityFibre, backed by Goldman Sachs, and Gigaclear, owned by M&G, plan to build millions of new lines but need retailers to sign up consumers. In a letter to the heads of the so-called altnets, seen by The Daily Telegraph, Sky UK chief executive Stephen van Rooyen said Sky was interested in deals and that “more can be done to help increase investment and bring ultrafast broadband to more homes, more quickly”. Full fibre connections are currently available to only around one in 20 households. Mr van Rooyen said Sky can “play a significant role in encouraging investment in new networks” by stimulating consumer demand. Over time it plans to launch migrate its pay-TV customers off satellite to deliver ultra-high-definition video over the internet, for instance. The talks will not include discussion of joint investments in infrastructure, despite industry speculation that Sky’s new cable operator parent Comcast may want to expand into network ownership.
Sky has instigated talks with Openreach rivals as it seeks to accelerate the rollout of ultrafast full fibre broadband. The company has written to the head of the altnets such as CityFibre, Gigaclear and TalkTalk backed FibreNation expressing interest in deals to accelerate deployment of fibre-optic broadband across the UK. Talks will not extend to joint investments in infrastructure according to a report in the Telegraph, despite speculation that Sky’s parent Comcast may have aspirations to expand into network ownership.