Airband seeks buyer as losses deepen pressure on UK broadband sector

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Airband sale amid UK broadband losses

Highlights

Airband initiates a formal sale process after posting £6.7mn revenue and over £66mn losses in 2024, with liabilities exceeding £224mn.
Enders Analysis reports UK altnets carry around £9bn in net debt and post collective losses exceeding £1.5bn in 2024, highlighting sector-wide strain.
Lenders write down roughly 40 percent of a near-£1bn loan to Gigaclear while KCOM incurs a loss exceeding £500mn as marketwide restructuring persists.

Sale process follows restructuring

As reported by the Financial Times, Airband has sent sale documents to potential buyers this week after carrying out a strategic review and cutting about a quarter of its workforce this year in its second restructuring since 2024.

The company, which supplies full fibre broadband to about 175,000 homes, posted revenue of £6.7mn in 2024 and losses of more than £66mn over the same period, according to Companies House figures. It also has total liabilities of more than £224mn.

Airband tells the FT it has commenced a formal sale process to identify the right long-term owner for the company. The provider says its network remains fully operational and that there is no impact on customer services or day-to-day operations.

According to people familiar with the matter, the company could also face a debt restructuring. If the sale process fails, the business may fall into lenders' hands, while Aberdeen's investment could come under further pressure.

Altnet strain spreads across the market

Airband is one of dozens of altnet providers built to challenge BT Openreach and Virgin Media O2, but the sector is struggling with heavy borrowing, slower-than-expected customer adoption and the high cost of expanding fibre networks.

Enders Analysis estimates that altnets carry about £9bn in net debt and collectively post losses of more than £1.5bn in 2024. The sale process may also be complicated by a limited pool of buyers, with Goldman Sachs-backed CityFibre facing financial difficulties and Nexfibre unlikely to pursue further deals while its planned £2bn acquisition of Netomnia is under antitrust review.

Pressure elsewhere in the market is already visible this year. Lenders including the taxpayer-backed National Wealth Fund write down about 40 per cent of their near-£1bn loan to Gigaclear, while Macquarie-owned KCOM takes a hit of more than £500mn as part of a restructuring, according to a company filing.

Our earlier article on Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Sky spin-off plan explained how the tax-free restructuring is intended to unlock shareholder value while also introducing near-term operational and financial uncertainty. We also highlighted that, despite supportive fundamentals such as broadband network expansion, technical signals were mixed and pointed to a likely consolidation range for CMCSA in the short term.

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