Connectivity
January 2025 · All Articles
Private fibre networks explained for UK businesses. What they are, how they're installed, who they're for and how they differ from leased lines and standard broadband.
A private fibre network is a connectivity infrastructure that Telexico physically installs — cables, ducts and equipment owned and operated by us rather than using Openreach's national infrastructure. When you connect to a private fibre network, your data travels over dedicated cables that have never been shared with any other business or person.
A leased line uses Openreach's existing national fibre network — your connection is dedicated in terms of capacity but shares the physical cable infrastructure with other leased line customers. A private fibre network uses Telexico's own cables, installed specifically for your site. There is zero dependency on Openreach, BT or any third-party infrastructure provider.
This distinction matters significantly for very large or high-security operations where complete infrastructure independence, maximum uptime guarantees and contractually guaranteed service levels are non-negotiable.
A private fibre project begins with a detailed site survey and route planning. Telexico's civil engineering team then installs duct and pulls fibre cable along the agreed route to your premises. Active equipment is installed at each end. The whole project — from survey to live — typically takes 4–12 weeks depending on route distance, ground conditions and any wayleave requirements for crossing third-party land.
Private fibre makes sense for large office buildings or business parks connecting multiple units on a single campus, industrial estates requiring gigabit connectivity across multiple buildings, healthcare or public sector sites requiring infrastructure independence and uptime guarantees beyond Openreach SLAs, or any high-security environment where shared physical infrastructure is unacceptable.
Private fibre costs depend significantly on route distance, ground conditions and civil engineering complexity. Contact Telexico for a site-specific assessment and quotation.
Yes — this is one of the primary use cases. Private fibre can connect multiple buildings across a campus or business park on a single shared network infrastructure.
Private fibre supports speeds up to 100Gbps and beyond with appropriate active equipment — significantly faster than the 10Gbps typical maximum for Openreach leased lines. For most businesses, speeds beyond 10Gbps aren't yet a requirement, but private fibre provides the infrastructure for future growth.
Occasionally yes, depending on the route and whether public highways or third-party land are involved. Telexico manages all wayleave applications and any necessary permissions as part of the project management service.