LONDON (Reuters) – British telecoms giant Vodafone said on Thursday it would partner with CityFibre, a wholesale fiber network infrastructure provider, to bring ultrafast broadband to up to 5 million homes and businesses in Britain by 2025.

Vodafone said the deal would give it access to a superior product at a lower cost and under better conditions than the regulated wholesale terms offered by the current operator, BT’s Openreach, which it said had left Britain trailing major rivals.

“The UK has fallen far behind the rest of the world, trapped by the limited choice available on legacy networks. We look forward to working with CityFibre to build the Gigabit fiber network that the UK needs and deserves,” said Vodafone UK Chief Executive Nick Jeffery.