February 2019 update on broadband availability across the UK, nations and regions
The big news is that the amount of full fibre we are finding across the UK is increasing rapidly, which given the number of press releases about FTTP roll outs in 2018 is good news.
A lot of the full fibre appearing is in locations where people already have a decent VDSL2 or cable broadband speed and while for some readers it will feel they are not delivering to exchange only lines, or cabinets originally deemed not commercially viable for VDSL2 but Openreach in its Fibre First programme is covering a decent number of those locations in its roll-out. Of course roll-outs like the Gigafast programme from CityFibre/Vodafone care little for the layout of the old Openreach network but what they will share is problems around wayleave permission that can impact flats and the small number of unadopted roads where code powers do not apply.
The downside to the shift towards a lot more FTTP is that the rate at which the level of superfast coverage is increasing remains low, we do see infill FTTP i.e. areas with below superfast VDSL2 now getting FTTP but the volume is fairly small and in line with the volumes expected from previous contract announcements.
| thinkbroadband analysis of Superfast, USC, USO and Full Fibre Broadband Coverage across the UK, its nations and regions for premises In descending order of superfast coverage - figures 7th March 2019 (change since 7th March 2019) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | % full and partial fibre based i.e. VDSL2, G.fast or FTTP or Cable | % superfast 24 Mbps or faster | % superfast 30 Mbps or faster | % Ultrafast 100 Mbps or faster FTTP, cable, G.fast | % Full Fibre All Providers Openreach and KCOM FTTP | % Under 2 Mbps download | % Below USO 10 Mbps download 1 Mbps upload ADSL2+ does not count as USO compliant |
| North East | 98.5% | 97.5% (=) | 97.3% | 55.1% (+0.5) | 1.35% (+0.04) 0.46% (+0.03) |
0.2% | 1.9% |
| 958,795 Premises | 944,136 | 934,956 | 932,932 | 527,789 | 12,902 4,416 |
1,997 | 18,152 |
| East Midlands | 99% | 97.5% (+0.1) | 97.2% | 61.8% (=) | 3.28% (+0.06) 0.95% (0.05) |
0.3% | 1.6% |
| 1,144,958 Premises | 1,133,919 | 1,116,036 | 1,112,319 | 707,620 | 37,528 10,912 | 3,852 | 18,643 |
| South East | 99% | 97.3% (=) | 96.9% | 57% (+0.4) | 5.18% (+0.4) 2.15% (+0.28) |
0.2% | 1.6% |
| 2,241,837 Premises | 2,218,317 | 2,181,408 | 2,173,241 | 1,278,550 | 116,198 48,213 |
5,577 | 36,670 |
| London | 98% | 97.2% (+0.1) | 97% | 74.3% (+0.2) | 9.68% (+0.54) 3.2% (+0.22) |
0.1% | 2.3% |
| 4,612,858 Premises | 4,518,857 | 4,483,732 | 4,476,043 | 3,428,208 | 446,439 147,397 |
4,409 | 105,694 |
| West Midlands | 98.5% | 97.1% (+0.1) | 96.9% | 67.1% (+0.3) | 3.48% (+0.68) 1.64% (+0.59) |
0.3% | 2.1% |
| 2,881,083 Premises | 2,838,280 | 2,797,065 | 2,790,974 | 1,934,412 | 100,207 47,254 |
7,767 | 60,727 |
| North West | 98.6% | 96.7% (=) | 96.4% | 52.9% (+0.7) | 4.23% (+0.65) 2.69% (+0.63) |
0.5% | 2.3% |
| 4,035,613 Premises | 3,979,859 | 3,902,963 | 3,890,731 | 2,134,307 | 170,725 108,392 |
20,893 | 94,201 |
| England | 98.2% | 96.4% (+0.1) | 96.1% | 59.5% (+0.4) | 6.29% (+0.48) 3.32% (+0.37)(includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.4% | 2.6% |
| 24,883,033 Premises | 24,443,137 | 23,991,439 | 23,912,877 | 14,796,230 | 1,564,955 825,978 |
96,388 | 635,565 |
| Great Britain | 98.1% | 96.1% (+0.1) | 95.8% | 57.1% (+0.3) | 6.07% (+0.46) 3.27% (+0.37)(includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.5% | 2.8% |
| 29,007,700 Premises | 28,461,282 | 27,878,415 | 27,783,590 | 16,569,584 | 1,761,259 947,625 |
139,954 | 819,131 |
| United Kingdom | 98.1% | 95.9% (=) | 95.6% | 56.7% (+0.3) | 6.3% (+0.46) 3.48% (+0.35) (includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.6% | 2.9% |
| 29,818,122 Premises | 29,265,382 | 28,600,976 | 28,499,567 | 16,919,892 | 1,877,095 1,038,018 |
174,302 | 875,616 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 97.6% | 95.8% (+0.1) | 95.5% | 58.8% (+0.4) | 11.22% (+0.81) 8.44% (+0.73)(includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.5% | 3.2% |
| 2,656,121 Premises | 2,591,723 | 2,545,444 | 2,537,720 | 1,561,612 | 297,950 224,258 |
12,394 | 86,097 |
| East of England | 98.2% | 95.6% (+0.1) | 95.1% | 53.6% (+0.2) | 3.25% (+0.17) 1.45% (+0.05) |
0.5% | 2.9% |
| 2,705,106 Premises | 2,656,264 | 2,585,410 | 2,571,933 | 1,450,950 | 87,942 39,109 |
13,474 | 77,296 |
| Wales | 97.7% | 95% (=) | 94.6% | 36.5% (+0.2) | 7.14% (+0.51) 5.97% (+0.44) |
0.8% | 3.6% |
| 1,428,653 Premises | 1,395,986 | 1,357,238 | 1,351,518 | 521,843 | 102,072 85,225 |
10,743 | 51,707 |
| Scotland | 97.3% | 93.8% (=) | 93.4% | 46.4% (+0.1) | 3.5% (+0.32) 1.35% (+0.29) |
1.2% | 4.9% |
| 2,696,014 Premises | 2,622,159 | 2,529,738 | 2,519,195 | 1,251,511 | 94,232 36,422 |
32,823 | 131,859 |
| South West | 97.7% | 94.5% (+0.1) | 94% | 48.6% (+0.5) | 8.09% (+0.34) 5.38% (+0.33) |
0.7% | 3.8% |
| 3,646,662 Premises | 3,561,782 | 3,444,425 | 3,426,984 | 1,772,782 | 295,064 196,027 |
26,025 | 138,085 |
| Northern Ireland | 99.2% | 89.2% (+0.1) | 88.4% | 43.2% (-0.1) | 14.29% (-0.03) 11.15% (-0.03) |
4.2% | 7.2% |
| 810,422 Premises | 804,100 | 722,561 | 715,977 | 350,308 | 115,836 90,393 |
34,348 | 58,667 |
A quick word on Northern Ireland and why the ultrafast figures have gone down: in terms of absolute numbers there is now more premises with ultrafast and FTTP broadband options but due to rolling in of the results for new build premises the percentages have shifted slightly in the downwards direction. This impact is not usually seen in the monthly summary because we invariably find enough new cable and FTTP services to compensate but with the focus on cities like Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol, Coventry, Edinburgh there has been little checking of Northern Ireland beyond keeping an eye out for unusual speed test results.
The overall UK percentage for premises needing help to meet the forthcoming broadband universal broadband obligation (USO) has dropped from 3.0% to 2.9% and importantly the number of actual premises has also dropped. The number of premises that will qualify if the residents ask for USO help if you presume that ADSL2+ cannot deliver the USO standard due to the low upload speed is 875,616, but if you ignore the upload requirement this drops to a much smaller 534,385 premises that cannot a 10 Mbps download speed, there is a middle ground figure with our tracking recording 782,293 premises who cannot get a 15 Mbps speed.
The Openreach Fibre First roll-out is being found at a pace significantly higher than the pace they have declared for the roll-out, i.e. their declared roll-out is 13,000 premises per week, but in the last month we have added 104,833 premises. So if the 13,000 per week pace is correct we are catching up to the live roll-out. The overall figures are 856,436 premises with GEA-FTTP available and 1,624,481 in range for G.fast giving a combined Openreach ultrafast footprint of 2,480,917 premises.
The 97% superfast coverage target is slipping a bit, the current projection suggests May,June or July of 2020 and 98% is roughly the same period in 2021.
Comments
When that % change is usually 0 to 1 decimal place its not much use.
Where its a big change will try to call it out.
The table is already very figure heavy so reluctant to add more.
- andrew
- 6 months ago
Is there anyway to get the USO history from the information section?
Nope
- andrew
- 5 months ago
If not overly complicated to implement, would it be possible to add the % change to "below USO" column? This would tell us how much building new networks target those who need it most. For example in my own area full fibre is making astonishing gains month by month but under USO seems to remain the same from month to month.