What’s up with… CityFibre, Fiberpass, telco APIs

• CityFibre boasts significant growth as it finally turns a profit
• Zegona and Telefónica update on FTTP joint venture
• Aduna hooks up with Sinch

In today’s industry news roundup: CityFibre achieves profitability and looks ahead to a positive 2025; Zegona and Telefónica have christened their wholesale fibre broadband access network joint venture and appointed a CEO; telco API venture Aduna has struck a partnership deal with cloud comms giant Sinch; and more!

It’s been a long time coming but CityFibre, the UK’s main fibre access network altnet, has finally (just) become profitable after a year of significant growth in its revenues, network reach and active fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) lines. The wholesale fixed broadband access network operator, which is proving to be a stubborn rival to BT’s quasi-autonomous fixed wholesale network division Openreach, increased its full year revenues by 34% to £134m in 2024 and achieved adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the 12-month period of £5m compared with a £55m loss in 2023, it noted in this trading update. Its network now passes 4.3 million UK premises (up from 3.6 million at the end of 2023), of which 4.1 million are ready for commercial service. It ended 2024 with 518,000 customer connections, up by 54% from 337,000 at the end of 2023. That number should increase significantly again this year, helped by a major wholesale deal with UK broadband and pay-TV service provider Sky, which will start offering commercial services over CityFibre’s network in 2025. “2024 was a definitive year for CityFibre,” noted long-time CEO Greg Mesch. “We achieved our first full year of profitability, signed a new strategic partnership with Sky, which doubled our retail sales capacity, and solidified our position as the UK’s leading independent wholesale network. As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, we are confident in delivering accelerated, profitable growth across our expanding platform, with half the UK broadband market now served by our partners. We will also harness our increased participation in [the] government’s Project Gigabit and make the most of a rapidly emerging altnet consolidation opportunity, realising the benefits of infrastructure competition for consumers, businesses and for the UK.” In 2024, CityFibre acquired Lit Fibre and was rumoured to be in M&A talks with at least five smaller altnets at the end of 2024. “We believe the opportunity for acquisitions to be significant and growing,” noted CityFibre in its full year trading update. CityFibre’s goal is to pass 8 million premises with its network, either as a result of organic rollout or acquisitions. 

Still with the world of fibre broadband… Zegona Communications, the new owner of Vodafone Spain following the completion of its €5bn acquisition last May, and Telefónica España have announced that their wholesale fibre broadband access network joint venture, announced in November 2024 (and initially dubbed FibreCo), is to be called Fiberpass. Once formed, the venture will pass 3.6 million Spanish homes and “allow both parties to maximise the use of the current FTTH [fibre-to-the-home] network, as well as capture efficiencies, both from the existing network and its future technological evolutions, allowing them to offer the best services to their customers,” noted Telefónica España in this announcement (in Spanish). The joint venture partners have also appointed Pablo Ledesma as the CEO of Fiberpass: Ledesma has been COO of Telefónica España for seven years and has more than 25 years of experience in relevant positions at the Spanish telco. 

Aduna, the telco API joint venture announced last September and in the process of being formed by Ericsson and 12 major telcos, has agreed to team up with major cloud communications platform operator Sinch. “This latest collaboration marks an important step to expand the global implementation and access of network APIs to spur innovation in digital services,” noted Ericsson in this announcement. Sinch joins Google Cloud and Ericsson’s Vonage unit as developer platform partners to “further bolster the ecosystem for network API innovation, enhancing the reach and effectiveness of network services. Sinch’s network APIs enable businesses to integrate communication capabilities such as voice, video, and verification services into applications, websites and systems,” noted Ericsson. Anthony Bartolo, who was recently appointed as the CEO of Aduna, noted: “The collaboration with Sinch as a partner will be a crucial step for the success of Aduna. We are removing significant barriers for developers who are eager to harness the full potential of mobile networks. The planned integration of Sinch’s expertise and reach will enable developers across leading platforms to access advanced network capabilities globally via common APIs. Aduna’s mission is to accelerate digital transformation across businesses and society, and we are excited to partner with Sinch as we expand the network API ecosystem."

Orange has struck an Employment and Career Path Planning (GEPP) agreement with the French trade unions for the period 2025-27. Orange France, which employs (as of September 2024) 71,000 staff across the country, “aims” to hire 6,000 permanent new staff and take on 2,600 apprentices per year (slightly more than in previous years) over the three-year period. This doesn’t mean Orange France’s total headcount (which doesn’t include apprentices, which are part-time but paid roles) will increase by 6,000 during this period, as the operator is also running, in tandem, a scheme that allows senior staff to scale back their work commitments up to five years before their retirement date, and there is no way of telling how many staff will opt in to that scheme, though previous schemes suggest the total will likely be in the region of 6,000 for the three-year period (though that is just an Orange estimate). In addition, as an Orange spokesperson noted in an email to TelecomTV, there could be departures from the company for other reasons during the 2025-27 period, so there is no way of knowing whether Orange France will end 2027 with fewer or more employees than at the end of 2024.      

– The staff, TelecomTV