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Carlisle-based alternative network operator and ISP Grain (Grain Connect), which a week ago secured a major £225m funding boost (here), on Friday revealed that their gigabit-capable full fibre (FTTP) broadband network had now covered 270,000 UK premises (up from 250k in March 2025) – from Aberdeen to Brighton, Carlisle to Cornwall, Leicester to Liverpool and Newcastle to Newport etc.
The operator’s broadband network, which is also home to over 43,000 customers (end of March 2025), is now aiming to build toward its next target of around 600,000 premises – it’s not currently known when this might be achieved. After that there’s also an aspiration toward reaching 1 million premises. Grain has no plans for M&A and so this will all come from fresh infrastructure build.
So far this year we’ve only seen a few big announcements of fresh funding from the altnet sector, with some of the main headliners being CityFibre’s massive £2.3bn deal (here), Netomnia’s £160m boost (here) and Wessex Internet’s £50m funding deal (here). Elsewhere in the market many other players are back to focusing more on growing take-up than new network build, while at the same time seeking a good outcome from consolidation in the future.