Faster full-fibre broadband now available to over half of UK homes
SEPTEMBER 7, 2023 12.29 EUROPE/LONDON BY BROADBAND TV NEWS CORRESPONDENT

Ofcom says full-fibre broadband is now on offer to the majority of UK homes.

Fieldwork taken between April and May 2023 shows 22.4 million UK homes (75%) now able to access gigabit-capable broadband. This is up from 21.9 million (73%), and has been driven by the continued rollout of full-fibre broadband.

Over half of UK homes (52%), equating to 15.4 million households, now have access to full-fibre services. This has been driven mainly by the larger fibre operators but also supported by a number of smaller providers across the UK serving individual communities and regions.

Availability of superfast broadband, offering download speeds of at least 30 Mbit/s, remains at 97% of UK homes. The final 3% of properties are likely to be in harder-to-reach areas, which more recent publicly-funded schemes could help.

The vast majority of UK properties can access decent broadband – defined as offering at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload speed.

Around 93% of the UK is predicted to have good outdoor 4G coverage from at least one operator, and this is expected to rise to 95% by end of 2025 as a result of the Shared Rural Network.

It comes as a number of mobile operators have announced plans to switch off 3G mobile telephony services. Virgin Media confirmed today it would switch off 3G in 2025.

For calls and texts, coverage remains largely unchanged. The range of predicted coverage by mobile operators varies from 85-93% of the UK, depending upon the operator, while in addition, 99% of all UK premises are predicted to have coverage for outdoor voice calls from all mobile operators.