Analysis · 5 min read
The great UK altnet consolidation has begun
After years of land-grab overbuild, the UK’s independent fibre builders are entering a long-predicted phase of mergers and rationalisation.
By Elena Marsh · Infrastructure Editor
London
EuropeUnited Kingdom · Updated 14 Jun 2026
- Population
- 8.9M
- Greater London
- IX
- LINX
- major global IX
- DC corridor
- Slough
- 600MW+ cluster
- Fibre
- Overbuilt
- 2–3 networks common
Overview
London is one of a handful of genuinely global connectivity hubs. It combines deep, competitive full-fibre availability across the metro with the Slough data-centre cluster on its western edge and a dense mesh of subsea routes reaching the Atlantic, Europe and beyond.
Population: 8.9 million (Greater London)
Economic profile
London is Europe’s largest financial centre and a leading hub for technology, media and professional services — a demand profile that makes low-latency, high-capacity connectivity strategically critical.
Connectivity profile
Multiple competing full-fibre networks serve the metro, while LINX (the London Internet Exchange) anchors UK and international peering. The Slough corridor concentrates one of the highest densities of data-centre capacity in the world.
Fibre availability: Multiple overbuilt full-fibre networks across most of the metro
Connectivity ecosystem
Operators
- Openreach
- CityFibre
- Virgin Media O2
Data centres
- Slough Data Centre Campus
- Telehouse - London (Docklands North)
- Telehouse - London (Docklands East)
- Digital Realty London LHR20
- Digital Realty London LHR19
- Equinix LD8 - London, Docklands
- Digital Realty London LON1-3
- Global Switch London East
- Global Switch London North
- Exchange Tower London
- Digital Realty London LHR21 (closed)
- COLT DC London
- Level(3) London (Braham Street)
- Redcentric London Data Centre
- London Hosting Centre
- Level(3) London (Goswell Road)
- Equinix LD3 - London, Park Royal
- TATA Communications Stratford
- iomart DC2 London
- Equinix LD9 - London, Powergate
- Telehouse - London (Docklands West)
- VIRTUS LONDON1 (Enfield)
- Options IT - Park Royal Datacenter (PRDC)
- LDeX1
- QiComm Tutis Point
- Verne London
- Arelion London HEX
- Centersquare London (LHR2)
- Digital Realty London LHR18
- AtlasEdge DC London LYC001
- COLT DC London II
- Telehouse - London (Docklands North Two)
- Epsilon Global Hubs London
- Docklands Data Centre
- DataGrid Network London
- IP House Data Centre
- Cogent London CDC
- EXA Datacenter London (Citi)
- EXA Datacenter London (GS2 London East)
- Telehouse - London (Docklands South)
Projects
- Project Gigabit
Internet exchanges
- LINX — London Internet Exchange — one of the largest globally
- LONAP — Independent peering point serving the UK
- LINX LON1 — 838 networks · London Internet Exchange Ltd. (PeeringDB)
- LONAP — 304 networks · London Access Point (PeeringDB)
- LINX LON2 — 319 networks · London Internet Exchange Ltd. (PeeringDB)
- Equinix London — 54 networks · Equinix Internet Exchange London (PeeringDB)
- IXP UK LON — 20 networks · Internet Exchange Point - London (PeeringDB)
- LONAP Multicast — 0 networks (PeeringDB)
- BBIX London — 3 networks · BroadBand Internet eXchange London (PeeringDB)
- RapidIX LON1 — 7 networks · Rapid Internet Exchange (PeeringDB)
- BGP.Exchange - London — 109 networks (PeeringDB)
- SBIX London — 1 network · Securebit Internet Exchange London (PeeringDB)
- BGPHaus — 1 network (PeeringDB)
- Stelia IX — 0 networks (PeeringDB)
- LONIX UK — 1 network · London IX Limited (PeeringDB)
- European Edge IX — 0 networks · European Edge Internet Exchange (EE-IX) (PeeringDB)
Smart city initiatives
The Greater London Authority’s connectivity programmes target full-fibre access, 5G small-cell deployment on public assets, and open data to support smart mobility and air-quality monitoring.