July 2019 update on broadband availability across the UK, nations and regions
The UK wide superfast figure increased by 0.1% and Northern Ireland had the largest percentage change in full fibre coverage with a 1.02 percentage point increase during the time since our last update on 7th July.
The numbers needing USO intervention are dropping thankfully and even in the cases where there was no change to 1 decimal place the actual figures in all the regions did drop.
While Scotland is waiting on its R100 contract signing and subsequent roll-out the old BT BDUK phase one contract is still delivering and with a pattern similar to the English counties of rough 50/50 split between VDSL2 and FTTP.
Wales remains static after the hard stop of the original BT Superfast Cymru contract and we await any significant changes from the phase two contracts. Wales has been static at 95.2% superfast coverage since the start of May 2019 having hit 95% in January 2019.
| 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 August 2019 (change since 7th July 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 We do not count ADSL2+ as USO compliant |
| East Midlands | 99.2% | 97.6% (=) | 97.3% | 62.4% (+0.1) | 4.85% (+0.24) 2.38% (0.20) |
0.3% | 1.4% (-0.1) |
| 1,155,819 Premises | 1,146,176 | 1,128,459 | 1,124,493 | 720,746 |
56,027 |
3,603 | 16,666 |
| North East | 98.5% | 97.5% (=) | 97.3% | 55.5% (=) | 1.68% (+0.03) 0.75% (+0.02) |
0.2% | 1.9% (=) |
| 965,955 Premises | 951,404 | 942,235 | 940,106 | 536,483 | 16,221 7,231 |
1,928 | 18,067 |
| South East | 99% | 97.6% (+0.2) | 97.2% | 57.9% (+0.3) | 6.52% (+0.34) 2.75% (+0.12) |
0.2% | 1.5% (=) |
| 2,262,491 Premises | 2,240,724 | 2,207,164 | 2,198,719 | 1,311,117 | 147,622 62,314 |
4,876 | 33,037 |
| West Midlands | 98.7% | 97.4% (+0.1) | 97.2% | 68.2% (+0.2) | 6.65% (+0.51) 4.39% (+0.45) |
0.2% | 1.8% (-0.1) |
| 2,907,461 Premises | 2,869,312 | 2,832,810 | 2,826,123 | 1,982,599 | 193,427 127,538 |
6,959 | 53,742 |
| London | 98.1% | 97.3% (=) | 97.1% | 74.9% (+0.2) | 11.86% (+0.55) 4.66% (+0.33) |
0.1% | 2.2% (=) |
| 4,653,591 Premises | 4,564,134 | 4,528,804 | 4,520,576 | 3,486,697 | 552,102 216,800 |
4,783 | 101,288 |
| North West | 98.7% | 97% (+0.1) | 96.7% | 54% (0.3) | 6.80% (+0.46) 4.98% (+0.29) |
0.5% | 2.1% (-0.1) |
| 4,074,490 Premises | 4,023,522 | 3,951,319 | 3,937,965 | 2,202,329 | 277,149 202,765 |
19,128 | 85,830 |
| England | 98.4% | 96.7% (+0.1) | 96.4% | 60.4% (+0.2) | 8.37% (+0.42) 4.93% (+0.27)(includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.4% | 2.3% (-0.1) |
| 25,118,137 Premises | 24,722,358 | 24,295,133 | 24,211,054 | 15,171,371 | 2,103,493 1,239,572 |
88,946 | 575,130 |
| Great Britain | 98.3% | 96.4% (+0.1) | 96.1% | 58.1% (+0.2) | 8.12% (+0.41) 4.85% (+0.27)(includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.5% | 2.6% (=) |
| 29,281,157 Premises | 28,786,241 | 28,229,110 | 28,127,224 | 17,006,779 | 2,378,183 1,419,794 |
132,780 | 751,125 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 98% | 96.4% (+0.1) | 96.1% | 59.8% (+0.2) | 13.65% (+0.79) 10.39% (+0.43)(includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.4% | 2.7% (-0.1) |
| 2,680,619 Premises | 2,627,827 | 2,583,972 | 2,575,194 | 1,603,480 | 365,807 278,404 |
11,128 | 72,428 |
| United Kingdom | 98.3% | 96.2% (+0.1) | 95.8% | 57.8% (+0.3) | 8.56% (+0.43) 5.29% (+0.29) (includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.6% | 2.7% (=) |
| 30,105,338 Premises | 29,604,587 | 28,966,538 | 28,858,023 | 17,385,959 | 2,577,474 1,592,718 |
166,826 | 806,881 |
| East of England | 98.5% | 96.1% (+0.2) | 95.5% | 54.4% (+0.2) | 4.25% (+0.21) 1.92% (+0.14) |
0.4% | 2.5% (-0.1) |
| 2,732,664 Premises | 2,690,590 | 2,624,846 | 2,610,570 | 1,486,058 | 116,136 52,357 |
11,920 | 67,588 |
| Wales | 97.8% | 95.2% (=) | 94.8% | 37.1% (+0.1) | 9.1% (+0.51) 7.23% (+0.50) |
0.7% | 3.5% (=) |
| 1,440,156 Premises | 1,408,235 | 1,370,884 | 1,364,739 | 534,476 | 131,025 111,263 |
10,539 | 50,514 |
| South West | 97.9% | 94.9% (+0.1) | 94.4% | 50% (+0.2) | 10.28% (+0.27) 7.18% (+0.22) |
0.7% | 3.4% (-0.1) |
| 3,685,047 Premises | 3,608,669 | 3,495,524 | 3,477,308 | 1,841,862 | 379,002 264,614 |
24,621 | 126,484 |
| Scotland | 97.5% | 94.1% (+0.1) | 93.7% | 47.8% (+0.1) | 5.28% (+0.23) 2.53% (+0.26) |
1.2% | 4.6% (-0.1) |
| 2,722,864 Premises | 2,656,648 | 2,563,093 | 2,551,431 | 1,300,932 | 143,665 68,959 |
33,295 | 125,481 |
| Northern Ireland | 99.3% | 89.5% (=) | 88.7% | 45.6% (+0.5) | 24.18% (+1.02) 20.98% (+0.99) |
4.1% | 7.1% (=) |
| 824,181 Premises | 818,346 | 737,428 | 730,799 | 379,180 | 199,291 172,924 |
34,046 | 58,416 |
We covered the Openreach full fibre figures in their financial results recently but the numbers have continued to climb with the Openreach full fibre footprint that we have found standing at 1,402,276 premises compared to 1,313,029 we reported on 7th July. The increase of 89,247 premises is over 4 weeks and 3 days so is pretty much running at the 20k premises a week declared in their recent results.
The old 97% superfast ambition is still looking like it will be hit around August 2020, a lot hinges on whether the pace of FTTP roll-out from the various BDUK contract extensions can increase in pace.
Comments
Why would all USO premises be excluded from the USO after consultation?
You suggesting that a magic wand is set to fix all the urban slow spots in the next 12 months?
- andrew
- 11 days ago
Andrew, USO for telephony is for rural only. I would not expect VM, Vodafone, Gigaclear, Hyperoptic, Cityfibre to make a cash contribution BT's network in urban areas where it chose not to invest in the last decade.
A B-USO for greater London is a somewhat nonsensical, an error in the original drafting.
Where in the legislation for the telephone USO does it say that it can only be invoked in rural areas?
Removing London from the broadband USO at this stage is something you are free to think about but would be stupid thing to do politically. Why not also Manchester? Liverpool? Edinburgh? Cardiff? Swansea? Carlisle?
- andrew
- 9 days ago
Sorry to disappoint your view but telephony USO is for any first line to a property and makes no mention of rural or otherwise.
Additionally AFAIK the B-USO is exactly the same in that it gives everyone the right to request a basic spec broadband service, anywhere in the country, and to be given an provision answer which is technology independent and may, or may not, include a contribution from the requester if the provision costs are above the limit.
It need not need to as the USO for telephony came much much later in terms of roll-out.
@VFM - if you are unhappy about the current B-USO proposals then Ofcom is the place to take your suggestions, as part of any consultations they may have or be running.
Thanks Andrew,
B-USO is interesting 101k for Greater London out of 575k for England. If we add Greater Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool Birmingham, it would appear Voda, Virgin and others will be expected to fund BT for urban upgrades.
I assume all urban will need to be removed from the B-USO after the consultation on funding.