Vodafone Leased Line Provider Profile
You probably know Vodafone as a mobile network operator, but what some people don't realise is that it's a leased line provider too - supplying big organisations and Internet Service Providers such as ourselves with dedicated ethernet connectivity.
Back in 2012, Vodafone bought Cable and Wireless Worldwide, the more UK-centric part of Cable & Wireless that had been demerged from the traditional Cable & Wireless. This resulted in Vodafone gaining the customers of leased line provider Thus and broadband supplier Demon Internet.
As a mobile network, Vodafone needed A LOT of backhaul capacity to link its mobile phone masts to its core network. Buying a backhaul capacity provider (Cable & Wireless) made sense.
Another rationale for the C&W acquisition was that Vodafone customers were increasingly being offered bundled deals that included fixed-line telephony, fixed-line broadband connections, mobile telephony and TV by rivals. Owning C&W gave Vodafone access to a broadband network colocated in many UK telephone exchanges that could be used to deliver broadband and potentially TV.
Vodafone's LLU Footprint
Vodafone is believed to have equipment in just over 900 of BT's 5600 telephone exchanges. From these locations, it's able to offer Ethernet First Mile (EFM) which can be used to provide low-bandwidth leased lines using multiple pairs of copper wires.
Vodafone is able to combine its network with local circuits from BT's infrastructure division Openreach. These are used to provide higher speed leased lines (typically, more than 20Mbps) and leased lines where EFM isn't able available.
In the longer term, Vodafone may in some parts of the country seek to find an alternative supplier to Openreach. It has signed a substantial wholesale deal to resell gigabit broadband to consumers, pledging millions to help a competitor to Openreach justify its build-out of a rival network to certain residential areas in the UK. In the longer term, this infrastructure-level competition is likely to reduce broadband costs.
Dedicated Internet Connections Based on Vodafone Leased Line Circuits Aren't Just Available Directly From Vodafone
Some ISPs, such as ourselves, can buy (lease, really) vodafone leased line circuits at wholesale prices. This means it may not always be cheaper for you to buy directly from Vodafone.
For example, at the time of writing, Vodafone's web site mentions that "a one-off connection fee of £2,000 (exc. VAT) may be applicable" for its Internet leased line service (Dedicated Internet Access). Most of the Internet leased lines we provide using Vodafone circuits don't result in us charging our customer a connection fee.
We're able to compare wholesale quotes for a given location in seconds, using our automated tools. Perhaps Vodafone is the cheapest carrier serving your location. Perhaps its not. We have run over 350,000 such comparisons, and more often than not, Vodafone isn't the best value option.
That doesn't mean Vodafone is poor value. It's just that we compare A LOT of different wholesale quotes to find the right deal for each individual location.
To request a custom quote for your location, fill in the pricing tool at the top of this page, or give us a call on 020 7847 4510.
