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Karen Egan, head of telecoms at Enders Analysis, said the target would likely be “reliant on consolidation of a number of smaller altnets”.

Egan said its goal to reach 8mn homes by 2029 was a “big ask given the current funding environment . . . Expanding through consolidation is easier from a funding perspective but nonetheless it’s an uncertain path as there hasn’t yet been much appetite for smaller altnets to accept deals,” she added.

Cumulative losses among the altnets were £1.3 billion in 2023, according to an analysis of the companies’ most recently published accounts by Enders, the telecommunications consultancy, which does not expect an improvement in last year’s figures.

“Scaling this business requires a lot of strategic planning, investment, possibly some kind of M&A, and building out a trusted voice and authority to grow it past that point,” says Abi Watson, analyst at Enders Analysis. “That’s the reason why someone like IndyBest is doing better because it’s been part of their brand for so long.”

At least many of CityFibre’s challenges are shared by its peers. Dozens of smaller alt-nets are struggling to make the numbers add up amid crippling build costs and surging interest rates. The 20 largest alt-nets collectively lost more than £1.3bn in 2023, according to Enders Analysis.

"The delay makes a lot of sense," Hamish Low, an analyst at Enders Analysis, told Business Insider. "Apple clearly got ahead of itself with Apple Intelligence with disappointing features, awkward marketing campaigns, and tepid consumer demand. Apple's position here is ultimately defensive, it has much more to lose than to gain from the AI race."

"Alexa+ is notable for at least claiming to bring much of the advanced functionality that you would want from a real AI assistant," Low said. "We will need to see how far it lives up to this with its public launch later this month, but its ability to plug into a host of APIs, and directly access and interact with websites in the background otherwise, is key."

Mobile traffic across UK networks has risen by more than 30 times over the past decade, according to analysis by Enders, the telecommunications consultancy.

It is this high degree of fragmentation, operators argue, that has driven up competition and pushed down prices, as usage of the network has surged. In the UK alone, mobile service revenues have fallen by almost 30 per cent in real terms over the past decade while mobile traffic levels are more than 30 times higher over the same period, according to Enders, the telecoms consultancy.