Advantages and Disadvantages of FTTP for Business

What Is FTTP?

FTTP — Fibre to the Premises — is a broadband technology in which a glass fibre cable runs from the telephone exchange or a local distribution point all the way to the physical building being served. There is no copper wire in the local loop, which is the portion of the network between the street cabinet and the premises.

This distinguishes FTTP from FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet), which runs fibre only as far as the street cabinet and then uses existing copper telephone wire for the final connection. The copper local loop is the bottleneck that limits FTTC performance — FTTP eliminates it entirely.

Advantages of FTTP for Business

Faster Upload Speeds

The most significant practical advantage of FTTP for business users is upload speed. FTTC typically delivers upload speeds of 10-20Mbps. FTTP delivers upload speeds from 50Mbps to 1Gbps depending on the chosen product tier. For businesses that rely on cloud backups, video conferencing, hosted applications or file sharing with clients, this difference is material and immediate.

More Consistent Performance

FTTP performance is less affected by line length than FTTC. An FTTC connection in a building far from the street cabinet may achieve only 20-30Mbps download despite being sold as an up-to-80Mbps product. FTTP performance is consistent regardless of premises location relative to network infrastructure.

Lower Latency

Full fibre connections have lower round-trip latency than FTTC. Typical FTTC latency runs 10-25ms; FTTP latency is typically 5-10ms. For VoIP calls and real-time applications, lower latency reduces audio delays and improves responsiveness.

Future-Proof Infrastructure

The UK Government's PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is being retired. FTTP provides the infrastructure baseline for converged voice and data services going forward. Businesses upgrading to FTTP now are aligning with the direction of UK infrastructure investment.

Competitive Pricing

FTTP prices have fallen considerably as rollout has accelerated. A 1Gbps business FTTP connection is now available from £60-£120/month in many UK areas — comparable to or cheaper than 80Mbps FTTC products from just a few years ago.

Disadvantages of FTTP for Business

Availability Not Universal

The most significant limitation is availability. Openreach FTTP has passed over 16 million UK premises but many addresses — particularly in rural areas and some smaller towns — are not yet served. Businesses in unserved areas cannot access FTTP regardless of willingness to pay.

No Formal SLA

FTTP broadband, like all broadband, is a best-efforts service. There is no guaranteed uptime commitment in the same sense as a leased line SLA. Standard business FTTP products offer next-business-day fault response, not the 5-hour repair guarantee available on a leased line. For businesses where downtime has significant financial or operational impact, this matters.

Contended Infrastructure

FTTP is shared infrastructure — bandwidth is contended between multiple users. While FTTP contention ratios are generally much lower than FTTC (meaning less performance degradation at peak times), it is not equivalent to the dedicated, uncontended capacity of a leased line. During network congestion events, FTTP speeds can fall below purchased tier levels.

Asymmetric Speeds (Some Products)

Depending on provider and product, FTTP upload speeds may be lower than download speeds. Most business FTTP products offer symmetric or near-symmetric speeds, but this should be confirmed rather than assumed.

Installation Lead Times

New FTTP connections require a physical installation visit, typically taking 2-4 weeks from order. Businesses planning an office move or urgent connectivity upgrade should account for this lead time.

FTTP vs Leased Line: The Key Comparison

For most SMEs, FTTP is a significant improvement over FTTC and represents good value. For businesses where internet reliability is genuinely mission-critical, a leased line — from around £69/month — provides dedicated bandwidth with a formal SLA that FTTP cannot match.