Neos Networks hits 550 target of unbundled BT exchanges

UK business connectivity provider Neos Networks, formerly known as SSE Enterprise Telecoms – it used to be a division of national energy provider SSE – has announced completion, slightly ahead of schedule, of a "major stage" of its Project Edge network expansion program.

According to Neos Networks it has "unbundled" some 550 BT exchanges, a target it previously set for the end of 2021, in its quest to reach more business customers. Neos Networks says it can now offer 100Gbit/s and 10Gbit/s services within reach of almost 750,000 business postcodes in mainland UK.

With a full-fiber footprint of more than 34,000km, Neos Networks further claims it supports one of the largest high-capacity business Ethernet networks in the UK.

The upshot, implies the company, is that it's very much in the UK government's gigabit good books. The network, it insisted, "helps underpin" the government's target for full-fiber gigabit connectivity to 85% of UK premises by 2025.

Expansion on the cards

Neos Networks' CEO Colin Sempill looked forward to further expansion next year. "During 2022 I would expect the number of unbundled BT exchanges to continue to climb towards 700, and we will also look to target last-mile fiber connectivity in key regional business hubs," he said.

Neos Networks reckons its unbundling approach helps it differentiate in the broadband market and seems to have attracted various types of "business customer." These include wholesalers, network operators, altnets, ISPs and various public sector organizations and enterprises.

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Last September Neos Networks signed a £100 million (US$127 million) connectivity agreement with Three UK. The smallest mobile network operator in the UK said it wanted to use Neos Networks' BT exchange footprint to bolster its existing 4G services and create new 5G networks.

Aside from BT, Neos Networks leans on UK altnet CityFibre to support its "business-grade Ethernet network." In August the company agreed to add nine UK cities over the CityFibre network to its footprint, joining the 15 CityFibre regions in which Neos Networks already has a presence.

— Ken Wieland, contributing editor, special to Light Reading