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Altnets are buoyant in the UK, Proactive International PR’s CEO says, despite predictions from some that a consolidation doomsday would arrive
By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
James Page, the CEO of Proactive International PR, said the era of buildouts by so-called altnets in the United Kingdom has given way to a new chapter, where investors want their money back.
We recently caught up with Page at Connected Britian in London.
Joining our Beyond the Cable podcast as a guest, Page said altnets, a shortened term for smaller alternate network providers, remain buoyant in the UK, despite earlier predictions from some that a consolidation doomsday would arrive.
“There is still more investment to come,” Page said. “We’ve been talking for some time in this market about when consolidation was going to particularly hit and how quickly that was going to happen, and that seems to be something that’s never quite hit.”
Earlier fears connected to overbuilds have not necessarily played out either, Page said.
“Now when you’ve got 120, maybe more, altnets and there hasn’t been yet that much consolidation, then there is definitely competition between them,” he added. “I think that’s entirely a good thing.”
Years ago, Page said some believed there would be only a handful of altnets left standing.
“Perhaps those smaller players are fighting for subscribers, but they don’t seem to be eating each other in the way that maybe some people thought they would.”
Consolidation prospects bring mixed feelings
Page said research compiled by Proactive International PR revealed that may service providers believed consolidation could be good for them but are worried about its overall impacts on the market.
“We also talk to suppliers, and if there’s a dwindling number of these altnets to sell to if you’re further down the supply chain, then I think there was maybe some of those concerns coming in,” he said.
As the UK reaches the end of the road with network buildouts, now focusing on last-mile efforts in hard-to-reach rural areas, Page said focus is also shifting on how to retain customers.
“I don’t see consolidation as being particularly problematic for the market,” Page said, adding that consolidations can also be challenging.
He said that could serve as a discouraging factor preventing more consolidations.
“It’s actually not that easy to integrate different businesses together,” he said. “It hasn’t been the doomsday scenario that maybe three or four of these conferences ago, where we thought, everybody might get eaten by a big three or four and that’s all that would be left.”