FROM THE INDUSTRY People generally don’t know or care how their broadband works. Exactly. Most people think they already have fibre anyway. What they actually care about is whether it works. Is it reliable? Is it fast enough? If the answer is yes, then the underlying technology is irrelevant. I Feel the Need There’s been an ongoing preoccupation for more speed; gigabit, multi-gigabit, now even talk of 10Gb. Seems excessive. The reality is that typical household usage doesn’t demand those kinds of speeds. Even with multiple people streaming, gaming, working from home, it’s still well within what current networks can handle. Speed isn’t usually the priority. The real driver for higher speeds isn’t everyday usage, it’s edge cases. Things like large file transfers, AI workloads or heavy remote working scenarios. But that’s a relatively small percentage of users. What’s behind this constant push for something nobody actually needs? Competition, mostly. If one provider offers 2Gb, the other wants to offer 4Gb. It becomes a marketing battle. But in practical terms, there’s a ceiling to what people actually need, unless a new application comes along that fundamentally changes demand. Cinemas went fully digital in 2013, yet audiences had assumed they were watching digital for years — they cared more about popcorn prices and comfy seats than laser projectors. Just like with fibre. Although I have to say a nerd like me will get 10GB the moment someone offers it to me!!
With business booming in Europe, breaking The Americas was an ambitious next step but Technetix have now fully established themselves, expanding into United States, Canada and Mexico at an incredible pace. Three very different markets with one thing in common: Broadhurst’s instinct that cable had plenty of life left in it has been proved right, and the economics of cable infrastructure appear far more resilient than the industry initially predicted.
Congratulations on your astonishing end of year results, you must be delighted.
Thank you. We grew about 50% last year, largely due to our North American presence. This year we’re going to grow another 50%, so we’re very pleased with that. The cable side of the business, which we have continued to fear was a melting ice cube, hasn’t melted yet, and it still grows. In terms of cost upgrading, the existing network is still the best way to do it, even though you wouldn’t build the network that way today. Clearly there is plenty of life left in BROADBAND CABLE. In parts of Southern Europe, cable build has largely disappeared. Fibre’s taken over there. But in Northern Europe, places like the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, there is strong cable infrastructure, and that’s going to continue down to cost and practicality. These countries have high labour costs and extensive underground networks. Once that cable infrastructure is in place, it’s incredibly expensive to rip it out and replace it with fibre. So instead, operators are maintaining and upgrading what they already have. It did seem like the “fibre will replace everything” story was a bit overblown, but 5 years ago there was a lot of excitement around its potential. And a lot has happened in the last few years. It was optimistic. If you were building a network from scratch today, yes, fibre would absolutely be the default choice, but that’s not the reality most operators face. They’ve already got infrastructure serving hundreds of homes per node. Replacing that with fibre doesn’t necessarily generate new revenue. Most customers will just take the same service at the same price. So why spend the capital?
Highlights from FY25 Audited Financial Statements (USD re-translation): n Revenue increased by 54% to $112.4m (2024: $72.9m), primarily reflecting increased demand in the Americas. n Revenue in the Americas increased by 156% to $68.9m (2024: $26.9m), driven by large-scale customer deployments. n Gross profit increased by 49% to $30.6m (2024: $20.5m). n EBITDA (before exceptional items) was $7.2m (2024: Loss $2.2m). n Loss before tax of $8.8m (2024: $13.3m), reduced by 34%. n Free cash inflow of $13.7m (2024: outflow of $11.8m).
Volume 48 No.2 MAY 2026
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