September 2020 update on broadband availability across the UK, nations and regions
The progress on the full fibre roll-outs is the good news story, but the vast bulk of this is commercially lead roll-out and providers are picking the areas that their planning teams believe stand a good chance of delivering a good return on their investment. This means that while some areas of the UK have seen small improvements in superfast availability and a lot of that change is actually full fibre the scale of these changes mean that the old 97% superfast target is still some way and now running late (96.82% over 24 Mbps and 96.48% with 30 Mbps or faster options).
The broadband USO by design or by implementation is not going to solve the superfast gap and neither will the current or future voucher schemes, what is needed is somewhat magical in that it needs a concerted widespread effort to fill in the various superfast gaps without distracting from any of the commercial FTTP roll-outs. Stating there is £5 billion of funding for delivering Gigabit into the areas the commercial operators are ignoring is only any good if the money is given to a firm (or multiple firms) to actually deliver. The old BDUK contracts are still delivering FTTP but the volume is small and it is scattered as they work through the recycled funding.
| thinkbroadband analysis of Superfast, USC, USO and Full Fibre Broadband Coverage across the UK, its nations and regions for premises In descending order of Gigabit coverage - figures 7th October 2020 (change since 7th September 2020) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | % full and partial fibre based i.e. VDSL2, G.fast or FTTP or Cable | % superfast 30 Mbps or faster | % Ultrafast 100 Mbps or faster FTTP, cable, G.fast | Gigabit | % Full Fibre All Providers Openreach and KCOM FTTP | % Under 2 Mbps download | % Below USO 10 Mbps download |
| Northern Ireland | 99.3% | 89.3% (+0.1) | 62.6% (+2.6) | 53.47% | 53.47% (+2.98) 48.11% (+3.15) |
4.0% | 6.8% (-0.1) |
| 841,246 Premises | 835,758 | 751,186 | 526,789 | 449,825 | 449,825 404,701 |
33,598 | 57,269 |
| West Midlands | 99% | 97.7% (=) | 72.6% (+0.3) | 46.89% | 14.80% (+0.63) 10.25% (+0.49) |
0.2% | 0.7% (=) |
| 2,943,741 Premises | 2,913,978 | 2,876,100 | 2,137,291 | 1,380,279 | 435,817 301,684 |
5,767 | 21,417 |
| Scotland | 98% | 94.3% (=) | 54.2% (+0.5) | 42.18% | 14.59% (+0.72) 8.29% (+0.61) |
1.2% | 3.2% (=) |
| 2,752,423 Premises | 2,697,135 | 2,596,899 | 1,490,807 | 1,160,999 | 401,522 228,211 |
32,180 | 87,099 |
| North West | 99% | 97.0% (=) | 59.7% (+0.6) | 34.4% | 15.61% (+0.78) 11.53% (+0.73) |
0.4% | 1.2% (=) |
| 4,130,578 Premises | 4,090,196 | 4,008,149 | 2,468,201 | 1,422,236 | 644,738 476,225 |
18,083 | 47,972 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 98.8% | 97% (=) | 65.7% (+0.3) | 34.11% | 22.91% (+0.61) 15.16% (+0.32)(includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.4% | 1.1% (=) |
| 2,712,589 Premises | 2,679,756 | 2,632,548 | 1,783,350 | 925,380 | 621,387 411,258 |
10,066 | 28,918 |
| United Kingdom | 98.7% | 96.5% (+0.1) | 63% (+0.5) | 27.17% | 17.05% (+0.83) 10.57% (+0.55) (includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.5% | 1.4% (=) |
| 30,549,492 Premises | 30,159,269 | 29,473,599 | 19,244,875 | 8,300,502 | 5,209,683 3,228,757 |
154,321 | 436,453 |
| Great Britain | 98.7% | 96.7% (+0.1) | 63% (+0.4) | 26.43% | 16.02% (+0.77) 9.51% (+0.48)(includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.4% | 1.3% (=) |
| 29,708,246 Premises | 29,323,511 | 28,722,413 | 18,718,086 | 7,850,677 | 4,759,858 2,824,056 |
120,723 | 379,184 |
| England | 98.8% | 97% (=) | 65.3% (+0.5) | 25.32% | 16.16% (+0.79) 9.44% (+0.46)(includes KCom Lightstream) |
0.3% | 1% (=) |
| 25,454,738 Premises | 25,154,666 | 24,698,333 | 16,611,674 | 6,444,421 | 4,113,079 2,402,351 |
77,783 | 254,303 |
| South East | 99.3% | 97.6% (+0.1) | 63.3% (+0.3) | 25.61% | 13.85% (+0.89) 5.78% (+0.42) |
0.2% | 0.7% (=) |
| 2,293,359 Premises | 2,276,493 | 2,238,354 | 1,452,485 | 587,301 | 317,687 132,481 |
4,186 | 15,575 |
| London | 98.5% | 97.6% (=) | 78.9% (+0.7) | 19.96% | 19.96% (+1.31) 8.25% (+0.48) |
0.1% | 0.5% (=) |
| 4,716,241 Premises | 4,643,697 | 4,602,890 | 3,721,519 | 941,146 | 941,146 389,051 |
4,195 | 22,133 |
| South West | 98.5% | 95.4% (+0.1) | 54.9% (+0.4) | 18.39% | 17.43% (+0.62) 11.33% (+0.30) |
0.6% | 1.8% (-0.1) |
| 3,744,437 Premises | 3,686,934 | 3,571,677 | 2,057,672 | 688,515 | 652,740 424,232 |
21,546 | 69,212 |
| Wales | 98% | 95.1% (+0.1) | 41% (+0.4) | 16.34% | 16.34% (+0.62) 12.89% (+0.57) |
0.7% | 2.5% (=) |
| 1,501,085 Premises | 1,471,710 | 1,427,181 | 615,605 | 245,257 | 245,257 193,494 |
10,760 | 37,782 |
| East Midlands | 99.3% | 97.8% (+0.1) | 66.6% (+0.3) | 12.07% |
12.07% (+0.58) |
0.2% | 0.7% (=) |
| 1,169,706 Premises | 1,161,972 | 1,143,480 | 779,064 | 141,142 |
141,142 |
2,764 | 8,588 |
| East of England | 98.9% | 96.5% (+0.1) | 58.4% (+0.4) | 10.5% | 10.50% (+0.63) 5.86% (+0.43) |
0.3% | 1.2% (=) |
| 2,770,694 Premises | 2,739,922 | 2,673,634 | 1,618,632 | 290,873 | 290,872 162,271 |
9,275 | 32,839 |
| North East | 98.8% | 97.7% (=) | 61% (+0.5) | 6.94% | 6.94% (+0.49) 3.09% (+0.31) |
0.2% | 0.8% (=) |
| 973,393 Premises | 961,718 | 951,501 | 593,460 | 67,549 | 67,549 30,103 |
1,901 | 7,649 |
In terms of the full UK coverage by a Gigabit capable broadband service by the end of 2025, if one were to assume all current Virgin Media DOCSIS 3.0 was converted overnight to DOCSIS 3.1 the Gigabit coverage would jump to 60.57%, i.e. taking into account overlaps between DOCSIS 3.1 and FTTP networks.
Comments
Yes I did see that this morning. Difficult to update a month old article as would promote it to the top of the stack.
- andrew
- 22 days ago
I agree 100% with the need for a concerted effort to close the superfast gaps. If the build for the sub-USO properties continues at the same rate I calculate it will take 12.5 years on average across the UK, or 25+ years in the South West (my area).
The problem attention is now on gigabit, and the best way to gain coverage quickly is (as usual) to concentrate on urban areas. Sub-USO and sub-superfast just isn't getting the attention it needs.
Do we know where the % at 24mbps+ 30mbsp+ data comes from?
I believe I (and my area in general) are included in this stats, but in reality these speeds cannot be achieved in my area. For example the BT Wholesale checker suggests speeds of up to 40mbps for my street and those nearby.
As i was 'only' receiving 18mbps I raised a fault with my ISP. Following an Openreach engineers visit, my speed is now up to 22mbps. The engineers stated it is not possible to achieve 40mbps due to the distance (over 1.1km) to the cabinet and this is in line with nearby streets.
Just noticed a typo in the Aug figures, South East USO Premises shows as 165847 i believe it should have been 15847.