Lack of automation hinders UK fibre industry | Computer Weekly

The main talking points in the UK’s gigabit broadband market have centred around how quickly full-fibre roll-out is taking place and when, not if, the government’s access coverage targets will be met, but research from Vitrifi has revealed that slow activation and limited automation remain major obstacles for operators seeking to monetise their investments in fibre and next-generation connectivity.

The study from the data-centric, intent-driven network operations software company, which questioned 100 senior decision-makers across incumbent and alternative network providers, highlights how entrenched manual workflows and fragmented processes are delaying time to revenue and compounding operational costs.

Among the clear findings were that hidden friction was undermining return on investment (ROI), there had to be more for automation than implementation for its own sake, and investment plans were falling short of imperatives.

The study revealed that a mere 3% of fibre broadband operators have fully automated their service provisioning and activation. As a result, Vitrifi observed, manual interventions persist even in ostensibly modern environments, exposing operators to high costs, customer frustration and heightened risk as competition intensifies.

While nearly three-quarters (71%) of respondents have been deploying fibre for over five years – and almost half serve more than a million users – many operators report the same fundamental challenges. The top barriers to monetisation cited were low provisioning and activation (37%), high operating costs per customer (37%), internal operational silos (32%) and low customer take-up demand (30%).

The impact of this was clear, said Vitrifi, with 75% of operators saying provisioning a new customer connection still takes more than four days, and nearly half (45%) reporting that it often exceeds a week. One in three operators stated that while some automation exists, processes remain heavily reliant on human intervention at critical stages.

Although automation has been widely promoted as the solution to such constraints, the research highlighted a more nuanced reality, in that simply automating existing workflows without rethinking how operational signals drive readiness can accelerate inefficiency rather than resolve it.

Operators urgently need a smarter approach that starts with reliable live signals and ends with trusted, revenue-triggering outcomes. Automating complexity without clarity just adds cost

Despite recognising these barriers, less than four in ten (37%) operators said they were planning to invest in automating their provisioning and activation workflows in the next 12 months. Instead, the majority are prioritising incremental improvements to staff training (51%) and analytics capabilities (47%).

Assessing the trends revealed by the study, Vitrifi said the misalignment between operational urgency and investment focus could leave operators exposed as funding cycles tighten and investor expectations around monetisation intensify.

“Too often, automation is treated as a tick box exercise – something to layer over fragmented processes,” said Oliver Happy, head of product at Vitrifi. “Our findings show that operators urgently need a smarter approach that starts with reliable live signals and ends with trusted, revenue-triggering outcomes. Automating complexity without clarity just adds cost. Fibre deployment is no longer the differentiator. Operators who can activate revenue at scale – without compromising customer experience – will set the pace in an increasingly competitive market.”

And this competition is intensifying. Only days ago, leading independent provider CityFibre announced that it has received a cash injection to “supercharge” the next phase of growth to boost the UK economy through the large-scale deployment of 10Gbps XGS-PON network.