Category: Broadband

A contract worth £14 million has been awarded to Wessex Internet to bring FTTP to around 10,500 premises in the New Forest.

Ofcom was predicting the UK reaching 50% residential FTTP coverage in March and we our tracking of the around one hundred full fibre networks is now showing 50.02% residential coverage.

We had hoped to be reporting 50% residential coverage today, but our figures are 67,600 premises shy of that target. When looking at the combined residential and business premises data which is our normal reporting method we are 136,650 premises shy of the 50% mark.

Back in the middle of February 2023 Ofcom was saying they expect the UK to hit 50% residential coverage in March and the differences in where Ofcom shows FTTP is available compared to what we record mean its likely the press release is just waiting on a final proof read.

We are now within one percentage point of half of the UK having a FTTP broadband option.

The trend for BT Openreach not winning any of the Project Gigabit contracts continues as the latest contract in Cambridgeshire has gone to CityFibre.

The UK is closing in rapidly on having half of households able to order a FTTP service from one of the many networks being built across the county.

We have launched a State of Broadband Report covering various key areas of UK broadband access and service.

While full fibre roll-outs are happening across England and Wales the large presence of Virgin Media in urban areas means Gigabit coverage has a big hill to climb in rural areas.

The slow towards 50% FTTP coverage for the UK is well underway, but while we look forward to celebrating the halfway point our regular monthly coverage summary highlights the regional variations in full fibre availability.