Faster full-fibre broadband now available to over half of UK homes
Our latest Connected Nations report shines a light on mobile coverage and broadband availability across the UK – revealing full-fibre broadband is now on offer to the majority of UK homes.
Based on findings from April and May 2023, it shows the extent to which people in the UK are able to access the broadband and mobile phone services that they rely on.
The findings across broadband and mobile provide a detailed picture of availability and coverage across the UK.
Faster broadband availability on the rise
Availability of gigabit-capable broadband continues to improve at a rapid pace, with nearly 22.4 million UK homes (75%) now able to access them. 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.
Mobile coverage stable, with network upgrades on the way
While there hasn’t been a significant increase in coverage since our last update, the mobile industry continues to develop coverage.
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.
The UK has both geographic and road 4G not-spots - areas where good 4G services are not available from any mobile operator. Geographic not-spots have dropped slightly since our last report, 8% to 7%. Road coverage remains largely the same with just 4% of all roads estimated to be an in-vehicle not-spot. This varies significantly across individual nations however, particularly in Scotland and Wales.
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 operator, while in addition, 99% of all UK premises are predicted to have coverage for outdoor voice calls from all mobile operators.
For more information and to access the findings, read the full report or use our interactive report.
