Report: Full-fibre broadband reaches 11m UK homes
October 7, 2022
By Colin Mann
The roll-out of full-fibre broadband continues apace, as the number of UK homes with access to it jumps by more than 50 per cent in a year, according to research from regulator Ofcom.
Ofcom’s Connected Nations autumn update reports that 37 per cent of households can now get full fibre, which is more reliable and capable of delivering download speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s. That’s an increase from 24 per cent a year ago, when just under seven million homes were covered.
The number of properties unable to get a ‘decent’ broadband speed (10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload) has fallen by 38 per cent since last year to 83,000.
Of these, around 66,000 are not expected to be covered by a publicly-funded roll-out scheme in the next twelve months, and therefore may be eligible for the broadband universal service.
Ofcom has also published research on how small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are using communications services. It found that the pandemic has accelerated a shift towards hybrid working for businesses with between 10 and 250 employees, making home broadband more of a priority.
Around a third of SMEs (31 per cent) with a broadband connection think it has become even more important since the start of the pandemic.
A quarter of SMEs have switched a communications service in the last two years, with a cheaper deal being the main reason for doing so, while those that don’t switch cite high satisfaction with their current provider as a reason for staying put.
For the majority of SMEs, the communications market is meeting their needs. However, rural SMEs are four times more likely to be very dissatisfied with mobile reception than their urban counterparts (12 per cent vs. 3 per cent) and twice as likely to be dissatisfied with the reliability of their Internet service (15 per cent vs. 8 per cent).