Zen & Sky join forces to boost UK Ethernet & fibre reach

Zen Internet and Sky Business Wholesale have agreed a partnership to allow Zen's partners and business customers access to Sky's Ethernet-enabled exchange footprint across the UK.

The agreement gives Zen the ability to leverage Sky's UK-wide network, which now spans more than 2,800 exchanges, over 80 per cent of which are enabled for 10Gb services. This collaboration is intended to help meet the demands of business customers for high-performance and scalable connectivity solutions.

According to the two companies, the relationship is founded on long-term ambitions, aiming to create growth through improved automation and aligned API strategies. This technological integration is expected to help accelerate quoting, ordering, and installation processes, with a view to improving service delivery speed and efficiency for Zen's partners and business clients.

The partnership also builds on the recent release of Zen's channel partner portal, The Fibre Hub, which launched in May. Through The Fibre Hub, Zen partners can already access full fibre broadband to around 20 million premises using infrastructure from Openreach, CityFibre, ITS, and Freedom Fibre, with Trooli products due to be added shortly.

With the new deal, Zen will extend its product line to include access to Sky Business Wholesale's Ethernet-enabled exchange footprint, covering both standard and 10Gb Ethernet services. This offer will be available to channel partners as well as direct business customers. It expands on Zen's existing Ethernet over FTTP and business-grade connectivity products provided via CityFibre and ITS.

Strategic alignment

Sky's network reach is a strong strategic fit for Zen. This partnership expands choice and flexibility for our channel and UK businesses we serve directly, enabling us and the channel to compete more effectively on price, coverage and service. It is another significant step in bringing genuine infrastructure competition to the UK market.

These comments were made by David Barber, Strategy Director at Zen Internet, who underlined the company's focus on establishing relationships with network providers in order to increase coverage and commercial competitiveness.

He continued, "As we continue to build relationships with more key network providers, we're on track to offer the widest geographic reach and the best commercial advantage for the channel and for direct business customers."

The inclusion of Sky Business Wholesale's network is part of a broader set of ambitions by Zen to deliver what it describes as better value connectivity for UK businesses and an expanded range of choice for its partners, particularly through The Fibre Hub platform.

View from Sky Business Wholesale

We're excited to partner with Zen, a business that shares our focus on innovation and customer choice. This is just the beginning of a broader collaboration that will bring real value and better outcomes for the channel and business customers alike.

This view was echoed by Damian Saunders, Managing Director at Sky Business Wholesale, who expressed anticipation for the future collaboration and emphasised the potential mutual benefits for both companies' customers and partners.

The partnership also aims to foster greater infrastructure competition in the UK business connectivity market, building sector resilience and creating new commercial opportunities for organisations of all sizes. By combining their capabilities, Zen and Sky intend to help reduce delivery lead times and support UK businesses as they scale within an increasingly data-driven economy.

The expanded portfolio follows industry trends towards infrastructure diversity, and is positioned as a response to the demand for faster and more reliable connectivity services, especially as businesses adopt more digital tools and platforms.

Both companies expect that the enhanced network reach, automation, and commercial flexibility will serve as a competitive advantage for Zen's direct customers and its channel partners, bolstering their ability to meet diverse client requirements.