The UK broadband industry challenge
Ten harder questions on the UK broadband market as it stands in autumn 2026, drawn from UK Broadband in Numbers. Switch on Pro mode for a 20 second clock per question.
UK broadband in autumn 2026: BT Group held 28.4% of retail broadband at the end of 2025 and acquired TalkTalk out of administration on 5 October 2026, Openreach passed 24.1 million premises with full fibre by September 2026, and full fibre take-up stood at 47% in January 2026.
What you will learn
- 1Where market share sits after the TalkTalk deal
- 2Footprints, take-up and Project Gigabit delivery
- 3Switching and complaints in 2026
Why it matters
The UK market has moved a long way in a year. Full fibre take-up has climbed past 45%, the One Touch Switch hub is handling around 185,000 switches a month and the altnet sector raised £3.2bn in 2025 even as consolidation gathers pace.
Every answer here comes from UK Broadband in Numbers, the Data Lab's monthly tracker of 38 figures, each with its source, its date and the next scheduled update.
Every answer, explained
Spoilers below. Play first, then open any question to see the answer, the reason and the source.
1. BT Group's share of UK retail broadband customers at the end of 2025 was closest to:
Answer: 28.4%
28.4%, ahead of Sky at 19.9% and Virgin Media O2 at 18.8%, on the Data Lab's compilation of company results.
2. On 5 October 2026, BT Group acquired which provider out of administration?
Answer: TalkTalk
TalkTalk, with 2.5 million customers: 1.5 million retail and 1 million wholesale. The two operate separately while the regulatory review runs.
3. How many premises had Openreach passed with full fibre by 30 September 2026?
Answer: 24.1 million
24.1 million, with 25 million now expected in March 2027.
4. Alternative networks passed how many premises with full fibre in 2025, counting overlaps?
Answer: 19.7 million
19.7 million, up 20% in a year, with more than 3.5 million live connections.
5. Full fibre take-up across premises able to order it, January 2026?
Answer: 47%
47%: 12.4 million live connections out of 26.3 million premises that could get it.
Source: Ofcom, Connected Nations update, Spring 2026; UK Broadband in Numbers, November 2026
6. Ofcom's fixed broadband complaints, industry average per 100,000 customers, Q2 2026?
Answer: 6
6, level with the lowest since the series began at 35 in late 2010.
7. The One Touch Switch hub's match rate in September 2026 was closest to:
Answer: 64.6%
64.61%, with 184,881 switches completed that month.
8. Project Gigabit had reached how many premises by 17 October 2026, of 861,890 under contract?
Answer: 340,880
340,880, or 40%, across 38 contracts in the £5bn programme.
9. New altnet funding in 2025, according to INCA and Point Topic?
Answer: £3.2 billion
£3.2bn, up from £574 million in 2024, most of it CityFibre's £2.3bn.
10. How many broadband lines did the Openreach network lose in the quarter to September 2026?
Answer: 175,000
175,000, after 191,000 in the quarter to June.
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Questions people ask
- Where do the industry challenge answers come from?
- From UK Broadband in Numbers, the BroadbandSwitch.uk Data Lab's monthly tracker, which cites Ofcom, BT Group, BDUK, TOTSCo, INCA and other named sources for every figure.
- How often is the challenge updated?
- The figures are reviewed against the tracker each month, and questions are refreshed when the underlying numbers change.
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How we checked this quiz
Every answer was checked on 9 November 2026 against the source listed with it, mostly Ofcom and the companies that publish the figures, and dated figures say when they apply. Questions that depend on a date, such as compensation amounts that rise each April, are hidden automatically once they pass their review date, so the quiz never shows an out-of-date answer. Your scores, badges and streaks are kept on this device only. Anonymous answer counts help us show how other players did, with no names or personal details.
References
- Martin-Smith, A. J. (2026, November 7). UK broadband in numbers (Edition 2, November 2026). BroadbandSwitch.uk Data Lab. https://broadbandswitch.uk/reports/uk-broadband-statistics/
- Ofcom. (2026, May 13). Connected Nations update: Spring 2026. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/coverage-and-speeds/connected-nations-update-spring-2026
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