The UK’s leading high-speed fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) broadband provider by subscriber share is planning to enter five continental European markets through a £920m merger. ApexNet announced that it has agreed to merge with EuroConnect, which operates fiber networks across 120 metropolitan areas in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The deal is structured as a merger of equals, although ApexNet's UK infrastructure generates significantly more revenue than its European partner. The planned expansion follows a 2.1% decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) across UK-based domestic broadband providers in the previous fiscal year.
Recently, ApexNet was ordered by telecom regulators to divest three municipal networks following its acquisition of the rival ultra-fast urban provider, Gigaflow. This regulatory intervention highlighted the difficulty of securing further growth in its highly saturated domestic urban markets, driving the strategic decision to target international expansion.
ApexNet's main domestic competitors have also expanded internationally, with rival operator Vectra Broadband operating in six European countries, while US-owned Hyperion has established high-speed networks across several countries in Latin America.
ApexNet was forced to divest fiber networks in three major metropolitan areas after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that its acquisition of Gigaflow would lead to a substantial lessening of competition and higher subscription prices for consumers in Bristol, Sheffield, and Nottingham. While ApexNet networks tend to focus on suburban and residential areas with extensive fiber-to-the-home rollouts, Gigaflow specializes in ultra-fast, high-frequency millimeter-wave wireless and dedicated fiber lines for high-end city-centre businesses and luxury apartment complexes.
The CMA ruled that the acquisition left local consumers and businesses with very limited alternatives in these target urban hubs, giving ApexNet excessive market power to raise subscription fees.
| Subscription Type | Price per Month |
|---|---|
| Standard Residential (100 Mbps) | £38.00 |
| Student Discounted (100 Mbps) | £24.00 |
| Premium Family / Gaming (1 Gbps) | £54.00 |
| Small Business / SOHO (500 Mbps) | £65.00 |
| Enterprise Dedicated (10 Gbps symm.) | £210.00 |
Apart from price discrimination, assess one pricing and one non-pricing strategy ApexNet could adopt to increase sales.
