Paul North on helping partners grow at Zen’s 2026 Partner Event

Speaking at our 2026 Partner Event, managing director Paul North outlined how we’re helping partners make the most of the next phase of the full fibre opportunity.

From continued investment in The Fibre Hub to new ways of supporting customer acquisition and partner growth, his message was clear: we’re focused on helping you win more business, reach more customers and get more value from your relationship with Zen.

The opportunity continues to grow

By 2030, the indirect connectivity market is expected to be worth around £800 million, with 1.1 million businesses being served through the channel. Closer to home, 2026 represents a significant milestone, with around 200,000 businesses expected to move from SoGEA to FTTP this year.

Paul said the market has moved beyond the phase where alt-nets were focused on expanding their footprint and is now focused on driving adoption across those networks.

That’s why we’re continuing to invest in The Fibre Hub and make it easier for partners to connect customers to the growing range of full fibre networks across the country.

The Fibre Hub gathers momentum

More than 600 partners are now actively trading through The Fibre Hub, with over 60,000 live services and a 52% increase in gross order demand over the last year.

We’re also seeing growing demand for higher-bandwidth services. More than half of new orders are now being placed on higher-speed tiers, with particularly strong growth in 1.2 Gbps and 1.8 Gbps services as businesses increasingly look to take advantage of the performance full fibre can deliver.

Those numbers reflect both the increasing availability of full fibre and the growing appetite for faster, more capable connectivity.

Helping you find and win new opportunities

Access to networks is important, but you also need to know where the customers are.

That’s why we’ve invested in a new data platform that gives us a clearer view of opportunities by location, sector and business type.

Those insights help us identify areas where demand for full fibre is growing and where partners are most likely to find new opportunities.

But technology is only part of the picture. Our marketing team, support teams and account managers work closely with you to share insight, identify opportunities and help build plans for growth.

We’re also working with network providers to unlock marketing funding and support activity that helps generate demand and drive growth.

Investing in the partner experience

Partners regularly tell us that the quality of our people and the ease of doing business with Zen are among the things they value most.

Over the last six months, we’ve continued investing in both.

We’ve rebranded our Partner Experience team to Partner Success, reflecting their increased focus on helping you achieve your goals and get the support you need.

Our Net Promoter Score has increased from 60 to 77, reflecting improvements across service, engagement and support.

And behind the scenes, we’ve strengthened our provisioning team to support growing demand, embedded live chat directly within The Fibre Hub, and continued improving processes such as billing, supplier management and service delivery.

More than products and connectivity

Whether we’re sharing expertise through workshops and advisory sessions, supporting you with marketing activity, or using data and insight to identify new opportunities, our aim is to provide support that extends beyond connectivity.

We’re bringing back our Partner Advisory Board, giving you the opportunity to share feedback that helps shape our roadmap and influence future developments.

And we’re investing in a wider portfolio that includes voice, SD-WAN and CloudFlex, to help you expand the services you can offer and make the most of your customer relationships.

Looking ahead

The full fibre opportunity continues to grow, but so do customer expectations.

Our focus is squarely on helping you make the most of that opportunity. Whether that’s through The Fibre Hub, the investments we’re making in our people and platforms, or closer collaboration throughout your journey, the goal remains the same: helping you grow.

Technology plays an important role, but the strongest partnerships are built on understanding your ambitions, supporting your goals and working with you to achieve them.

If you’re not already a Zen partner and want to access the growing range of networks and opportunities available through The Fibre Hub, get in touch with the team.