CityFibre preparing for acquisition drive

CityFibre has released its results for the quarter ending 30th September 2026. The alt-net has an over 1.1 million customers connected to the network and 260,000 have been added in the last 12 months. With their self declared RFS footprint this gives a take-up figure of around 22% rising to 26% if looking purely at consumer connections.

“Our performance demonstrates the ongoing, fundamental strength of CityFibre’s business. We continue to grow our customer base and revenues while delivering significant improvements in profitability and maintaining a disciplined approach to costs and capital allocation. 

“We also recognise that our capital structure needs to evolve to support our acquisition drive and unlock the next phase of CityFibre’s growth. With the continued backing of our shareholders, including a £900m new equity commitment, we are in discussion with our lenders to establish a strong, long-term capital structure for the business. This will enable CityFibre to accelerate consolidation in the sector creating a larger business with the funding and financial flexibility to deliver its long-term plan and establish the third national network the UK needs.”

Simon Holden, CEO, CityFibre

In terms of network footprint our maps are missing the a few hundred premises added this week, but you can see the spread across England and Scotland on our maps. Much of the new RFS premises are in Project Gigabit areas where they are delivering a mixture of commercial and subsided build.

Confusingly there are three different footprint figures from CityFibre, 4.8 million premises passed, 4.6 million premises Ready For Service and 4.2 million residential premises Ready for Service. Our footprint tracking shows a figure of 4.4 million and this does include a mix of consumer and business premises, so in the middle of the 4.2 and 4.6 figures looks about right.

Consumer revenue has managed to increase by 61% to £127 million when you compare the same nine months of 2026 to 2025. Overall revenue in the period was £164 million up 36%. No doubt the Sky now selling over the CityFibre footprint is behind a large chunk of the increased consumer take-up and increased revenue.

No one would expect CityFibre to name who it has its eyes on in its acquisition drive, but they are highlighting £900 million of equity commitment proposed in August to support growing the network, and this growth is more likely to be via acquisition rather than direct build of full fibre in new locations.