The 82% Country: Connected Nations Spring 2026 (Report No. 29)
REPORT NO. 29 · THE 82% COUNTRY · SPRING 2026 DATA
The short answer
Ofcom's Connected Nations update for Spring 2026 shows full fibre now reaches 82% of UK homes (24.9 million), up from 78% just six months earlier. Gigabit capable broadband stands at 89% (27.1 million homes). Yet fewer than half of the premises that can get full fibre have actually taken it. If your street was upgraded in the last two years, there is a good chance you are still paying full price for yesterday's connection.
Check what your postcode can get now Download the PDF report (24 pages, free)
The headline numbers
Sources: Ofcom Connected Nations update Spring 2026 and Ofcom open data (January 2026 snapshot). Coverage figures are for residential premises; take-up and the 39,000 figure cover all premises. Full definitions in the method note below.
What changed since our last report
In April we published our full analysis of Connected Nations 2025, built on Ofcom's July 2025 data. Six months of network building later, here is the like for like comparison. Every Spring 2026 figure in this table has been verified against Ofcom's raw data files rather than the press release.
| Metric | Jul 2025 (CN2025) | Jan 2026 (Spring 2026) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full fibre availability (homes) | 78% (23.7m) | 82% (24.9m) | +4 points, +1.2m homes |
| Gigabit capable (homes) | 87% (26.4m) | 89% (27.1m) | +2 points, +0.7m homes |
| Superfast 30 Mbit/s+ (homes) | 98% | 98% | No change |
| Full fibre take-up (all premises with access) | 42% (10.6m connections) | 47% (12.4m connections) | +5 points, +1.8m connections |
| Premises without decent broadband (fixed or fixed wireless) | 44,000 | 39,000 | Down 5,000 |
The pattern is unmistakable. The build is still accelerating, take-up is finally catching up, and the hardest to reach tail keeps shrinking. The one number that has not moved is the one that matters most to most households: superfast coverage has been effectively complete for years, which means the story is no longer whether you can get fast broadband. It is whether you have noticed that something far faster arrived on your street.
What actually counts as full fibre
Three products get sold with the word fibre on them. Only one is the real thing in Ofcom's data, and the difference is simply how far the fibre itself travels.
The one line test: if the fibre itself reaches your front door, it is full fibre. If copper or coaxial does the final stretch, it can still be fast, and cable can even be gigabit capable, but it is not full fibre, whatever the advert says.
Key findings at a glance
- Full fibre reaches 24.9 million UK homes (82%), with 1.2 million homes added in just six months.
- Gigabit capable coverage is now 89% of homes (27.1 million), and 88% of all premises including businesses.
- Take-up of full fibre jumped from 42% to 47% of premises passed, its biggest six month rise yet, but roughly 14 million premises with fibre outside still have not switched.
- Northern Ireland leads on availability (96% of homes) and Scotland trails (75%), while Wales has surged to 82% and now matches England.
- Rural full fibre reaches 66% of homes against 84% in urban areas, and rural households are more than ten times as likely to lack a decent fixed line.
- On mobile, 4G from all four operators now covers 84% of UK landmass, and 5G from at least one operator reaches 98% of premises outdoors, with 5G standalone spanning 49% to 85% across the three operators that have launched it.
Introduction
Twice a year, Ofcom takes a full census of every broadband line, mast and premise in the country and tells us how connected the UK actually is. The Spring 2026 update, published on 13 May 2026 with data measured in January 2026, is the interim check-in between the big annual Connected Nations reports. It is easy to dismiss the interim updates as minor. This one is not.
Two things make Spring 2026 significant. First, the four point jump in full fibre availability is the kind of movement that used to take a year, not six months. Second, and more importantly for your wallet, the take-up line finally bent upwards. For years the industry built networks faster than households joined them. That gap is still enormous, but for the first time it is closing at pace, which changes the competitive dynamics for every provider on your doorstep.
As always, we have gone deeper than the press release. We rebuilt the analysis from Ofcom's raw open data files, all 361 local authorities, both nations level files and the full mobile dataset, and we have turned it into something Ofcom's own interactive report does not offer: a fast, searchable, deep linkable explorer for your own council area, further down this page.
"The UK does not have a broadband coverage problem any more. It has a broadband awareness problem. Fourteen million premises are sitting under a fibre network they have never ordered."
Our take, in one paragraph
The infrastructure race is nearly won and the adoption race has barely started. With 82% of homes passed by full fibre, 89% gigabit capable, and superfast effectively universal, the build side of the ledger is in remarkable shape and even the projections now point at 92% full fibre by January 2029. The consumer side lags badly: 47% take-up means the majority of upgraded streets are still running yesterday's connections at yesterday's loyalty prices. Our advice is unchanged from April but more urgent: check your postcode, because the odds that your options improved in the last six months have never been higher.
The UK is quietly getting very well connected
Strip out the tribal arguments about whether Britain was late to fibre (it was) and the January 2026 numbers describe a country in genuinely good connectivity health. 99.2% of homes can get at least a decent 10 Mbit/s connection over a fixed line. 98.1% can get superfast. 89.7% can get 100 Mbit/s or faster. And the full fibre line, which sat at just 10% of premises when Ofcom reported in 2019, has now reached 82% of homes.
So what?
Almost nobody reading this page is stuck. If your broadband is slow, unreliable or expensive, the January 2026 data says the overwhelming likelihood is that a better option already exists at your address and you simply have not ordered it. The rest of this page is about finding it.
What this really means for you
1. You are probably paying too much for too little
The fibre gap, in premises All 32.5 million UK premises, homes and businesses, January 2026
The pale block is the gap: premises where full fibre is available today and no order has ever been placed. The blocks sum: 12.4m + 13.9m + 6.2m = 32.5m.
Take-up of full fibre is 47% of the premises that can get it. Flip that around: about 14 million homes and businesses have a full fibre network outside the window and are not using it. Many of those households are paying legacy copper or part fibre prices, often out of contract, for a slower and less reliable product than the one now available, sometimes at a lower monthly price, on the same street. Our recent Great Consolidation report explains why the fibre builders are now desperate for those customers, and desperation is good news for switchers.
So what?
Run your postcode through our comparison tool. If full fibre arrived since you last checked, you are exactly the customer every altnet and Openreach based provider is fighting over right now.
2. Where you live still decides what you get
The national averages hide a wide spread. At the top, Kingston upon Hull remains the most fibred place in Britain at 99.6% of premises, a legacy of KCOM's early citywide build, and 72 of the UK's 361 local authority areas are now at 90% or better. At the bottom, eight areas remain below 50%, and the Scottish islands anchor the table: Na h-Eileanan Siar at just 12.0%, Shetland at 20.0% and Argyll and Bute at 23.9%.
| Top five | % | Bottom five | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston upon Hull | 99.6 | Na h-Eileanan Siar | 12.0 |
| Southend-on-Sea | 97.6 | Shetland Islands | 20.0 |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 96.7 | Argyll and Bute | 23.9 |
| Bracknell Forest | 96.7 | Orkney Islands | 30.0 |
| Coventry | 96.7 | Perth and Kinross | 36.6 |
Take-up tells its own story. Hull again leads the country with 78% of fibre passed premises actually connected, followed by a cluster of Northern Ireland councils where fibre has been normal for years. At the other end, Kensington and Chelsea has the lowest take-up in the UK at 19%, a reminder that the gap is not about money. It is about awareness, contract inertia and flats.
Chart reads: of the 361 UK local authorities, 72 now have full fibre availability of 90% or better, one council in five, while 8 remain below 50%.
The extremes, ranked
| Local authority | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Kingston upon Hull | 99.6% |
| Southend-on-Sea | 97.6% |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 96.7% |
| Bracknell Forest | 96.7% |
| Coventry | 96.7% |
| Local authority | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Na h-Eileanan Siar | 12.0% |
| Shetland Islands | 20.0% |
| Argyll and Bute | 23.9% |
| Orkney Islands | 30.0% |
| Perth and Kinross | 36.6% |
| Local authority | Take-up |
|---|---|
| Kingston upon Hull | 78% |
| Ards and North Down | 75% |
| Mid and East Antrim | 74% |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 73% |
| Milton Keynes | 72% |
| Local authority | Take-up |
|---|---|
| Kensington and Chelsea | 19% |
| Isles of Scilly | 20% |
| Blackpool | 22% |
| Oxford | 22% |
| West Dunbartonshire | 23% |
Take-up here is a conversion rate: of the premises that can already order full fibre, the share with an active connection. It is not a share of all premises.
So what?
Do not assume your area is behind. Use the explorer below to see your own council's exact figures, then check your specific postcode, because coverage can change street by street.
3. The final 39,000: if you genuinely cannot get decent broadband
Ofcom's definition of decent broadband is at least 10 Mbit/s down and 1 Mbit/s up, the threshold behind the broadband Universal Service Obligation. In January 2026, around 39,000 premises could not get that from any fixed line or fixed wireless provider, down from 44,000 six months earlier. Ofcom adds that once satellite services are counted, only around 4,000 premises lack access to an affordable decent connection, a figure driven by cheaper Starlink pricing. Satellite is not a universal fix, though: it needs a clear view of the sky, suits few flats, and its pricing has moved more than once. If you are in that tail, realistic options now include 4G and 5G home broadband, fixed wireless providers and satellite, and our dedicated rural switching guide walks through each with costs and caveats.
| Local authority | Share | Premises |
|---|---|---|
| Na h-Eileanan Siar | 2.8% | 490 |
| Argyll and Bute | 2.1% | 1,211 |
| Orkney Islands | 2.0% | 269 |
| Powys | 2.0% | 1,431 |
| Shetland Islands | 1.7% | 222 |
The Fibre Gap Explorer: your council area in one search
Ofcom publishes an interactive report alongside its data, but it is a Power BI embed that asks you to go full screen, cannot link to a specific place and offers no way to export what you see. So we built our own from the same official files. Search any of the 361 UK local authority areas below for its verified January 2026 figures, how it ranks nationally, and how it compares with the UK average. Every view has its own link you can share, and the full dataset is one click to download.
Source: Ofcom open data, January 2026, all premises. Take-up is shown as a share of premises with full fibre coverage.
The full picture, in six charts
Chart 1: from 10% to 82% in seven years
Chart reads: UK full fibre availability was 10% of premises in 2019 and 82% of homes in January 2026. The dashed point shows Ofcom's Planned Network Deployments projection of 92% by January 2029 if operators build what they have announced. That last point is a projection, not a promise.
Chart 2: the coverage ladder, January 2026
Chart reads: each rung is the share of UK homes that can order at least that tier. Decent broadband 99.2%, superfast 98.1%, 100 Mbit/s+ 89.7%, gigabit capable 88.9% and full fibre 81.8%. The gap between the top two rungs and the bottom rung is where most switching value lives.
Chart 3: the four nations
Chart reads: Northern Ireland leads on both measures (96% full fibre, 96% gigabit). England (82% and 90%) and Wales (82% and 85%) are now level on full fibre, a milestone for Wales, while Scotland trails on both (75% and 84%). Figures are homes, January 2026.
Chart 4: urban and rural, still two different countries
Chart reads: urban homes see 84% full fibre and 93% gigabit; rural homes see 66% and 66%. Superfast is 99% urban and 92% rural. The starkest line is not on this chart: 3.8% of rural homes cannot get a decent fixed line connection at all, against 0.3% in urban areas.
Chart 5: coverage vs take-up across 361 local authorities
Chart reads: each dot is one local authority, with full fibre availability across the bottom and take-up as a share of premises passed up the side. The mass of dots in the bottom right corner is the story of this report: places where the network arrived and most people have not. Hull sits alone at the top right. Hover or tap any dot to name it.
Chart 6: 5G by operator
Chart reads: 5G coverage outside premises now spans 76% to 94% across the four networks (EE 94%, O2 86%, Vodafone 77%, Three 76%), and 98% of premises get 5G from at least one operator. The darker bars show 5G standalone, the newer full fat version of 5G, which spans 49% to 85% across the three operators that have launched it. Three has not yet deployed standalone 5G.
Mobile: 4G and 5G reality check
The Spring 2026 update covers mobile as well as fixed lines, and the mobile story is quietly impressive. 4G from all four operators now covers 84% of the UK's landmass, up three points in six months, with Ofcom noting particular gains on the Vodafone and Three networks in rural areas as the Shared Rural Network programme delivers. From at least one operator, 4G geographic coverage stands at 96%, and 99.7% of premises get an indoor 4G signal from at least one network.
On 5G, the operator gap is wider than most people realise. EE covers 94% of premises outdoors, O2 86%, Vodafone 77% and Three 76%, and coverage from all four networks together reached 64% of premises, up from 47% a year earlier. 5G standalone, which runs 5G end to end without leaning on the 4G core and unlocks the technology's full potential, is now live on three networks: O2 reaches 85% of premises outdoors, EE 73% and Vodafone 49%. If your home broadband options are thin, this is increasingly relevant, because a strong outdoor 5G signal can power a very usable home connection. Our guide to full fibre vs FTTC vs cable vs 4G and 5G covers when that trade-off makes sense.
Chart reads: 4G from all four operators covers 91.4% of England's landmass, 86.7% of Northern Ireland's, 79.8% of Wales's and 71.1% of Scotland's, against a UK figure of 83.6%.
The 2029 picture
Alongside the coverage data, Ofcom published its Planned Network Deployments 2026 analysis, which aggregates what every operator says it intends to build. If those plans land, full fibre would reach around 28.1 million homes, 92%, by January 2029, with several thousand additional fixed wireless masts on top. Treat 92% as the regulator's most optimistic reading of operator plans rather than a certainty: it depends on altnet funding, the outcome of consolidation (the Competition and Markets Authority is examining nexfibre's proposed acquisition of Substantial Group, the parent of Netomnia, YouFibre and Brsk, with a statutory deadline of 15 December 2026 that can be extended), and Project Gigabit delivery in the subsidised tail, where BDUK's July 2026 tracker showed 287,510 of 838,490 contracted premises built, 34% and accelerating. Our Great Consolidation report put 68% odds on the market settling into three national fibre platforms by the mid 2030s, and nothing in this data changes that view.
Which reader are you?
The renter
Short tenancy, no appetite for installation drama. Check whether full fibre is already live at the property, favour providers with 30 day or no lock-in options, and read our moving and renting hub before you sign anything.
The rural household
You are in the 34% of rural homes without full fibre, or worse, the 3.8% without a decent fixed line. Fixed wireless, 4G or 5G home broadband and satellite are all real options now, and the rural switching guide ranks them honestly.
The family on a squeezed budget
If anyone in the household receives a qualifying benefit, a social tariff can cut broadband to roughly half the average market price with no exit fees. Our social tariffs guide lists every current tariff and how to apply.
The home worker
Your job depends on upload speed and reliability, which is exactly where full fibre embarrasses copper. If 47% take-up includes your street but not your house, you are leaving performance and money on the table. Test what you actually get with Pulse, our speed test, then compare.
What you should actually do
- Test your current speed. Run Pulse at a busy time of day so you know your honest baseline.
- Check what your address can get now. Coverage has moved fast: 1.2 million homes gained full fibre in six months. Run your postcode.
- Find your contract end date. Out of contract prices are where loyalty gets punished. Your provider must tell you if you ask, and annual best tariff notifications must set it out in writing.
- Check the two easy savings. If anyone in the household receives Universal Credit or Pension Credit, check a social tariff first: our Loyalty Penalty report found nine in ten eligible households missing roughly £200 a year, and the out of contract gap runs £84 to £108 a year on Ofcom's measure. Sanity check any shortlist against the latest Ofcom complaints league.
- Use One Touch Switch. Since September 2024 your new provider handles the whole move, including cancelling the old service, and compensation applies if things go wrong. The system passed three million completed switches in June 2026. Full detail in our One Touch Switch guide.
- Sort your landline before January 2027. The analogue phone network switches off on 31 January 2027, and any switch you make now should land you on a digital voice service by default. Our Last Dial Tone report and Digital Voice guide cover what changes and who needs to prepare.
When is the next update?
| Release | Data snapshot | Published |
|---|---|---|
| Connected Nations 2025 (annual) | July 2025 | 19 November 2025 |
| Connected Nations update: Spring 2026 | January 2026 | 13 May 2026 (this report) |
| Connected Nations 2026 (annual) | July 2026 | Expected November 2026 |
We will publish our full analysis of Connected Nations 2026 within 48 hours of Ofcom's release, and this page will be updated to point to it.
The Acronym Decoder
The standard BroadbandSwitch.uk decoder: every abbreviation and term of art on this page, translated once and properly.
- Altnet
- Alternative network. A challenger provider building its own full fibre in competition with Openreach and Virgin Media O2
- BDUK
- Building Digital UK. The government body delivering Project Gigabit subsidies
- CMA
- Competition and Markets Authority. The regulator reviewing the fibre mergers covered above
- Decent broadband
- The legal floor. At least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload
- FTTC
- Fibre To The Cabinet. Fibre to the street cabinet, copper for the last stretch home
- FTTP
- Fibre To The Premises. Full fibre, all the way into the building
- FWA
- Fixed Wireless Access. Home broadband delivered over the air from a mast to an antenna
- Gigabit capable
- 1 Gbit/s or faster. Full fibre plus upgraded cable networks
- HFC
- Hybrid Fibre Coaxial. Cable broadband: fibre deep into the network, coaxial to the home
- MNO
- Mobile Network Operator. EE, O2, Three and Vodafone run the UK's four networks
- ONT
- Optical Network Terminal. The small box where the fibre ends inside your home
- OTS
- One Touch Switch. Change provider by contacting only the new one
- Premises passed
- Availability. Premises able to order a service, whether or not they have
- PSTN
- Public Switched Telephone Network. The analogue phone system, off on 31 January 2027
- SRN
- Shared Rural Network. The joint operator and government programme extending rural 4G
- Standalone 5G
- 5G SA. 5G running end to end without leaning on the 4G core
- Superfast
- 30 Mbit/s or faster. The tier now available to 98% of homes
- Take-up
- Adoption. The share of premises passed that have an active connection
- Ultrafast
- 100 or 300 Mbit/s+. Ofcom reports both thresholds; this page states which
- USO
- Universal Service Obligation. The legal right to request a decent connection
- WISP
- Wireless ISP. A provider delivering decent broadband via fixed wireless
Frequently asked questions
What is Ofcom's Connected Nations update?
It is the official census of UK broadband and mobile coverage, compiled by the regulator from data submitted by every network operator. The full report lands each autumn and an interim update, like this Spring 2026 edition, arrives each spring.
How current is the data on this page?
The Spring 2026 update was published on 13 May 2026 and its data is a snapshot of January 2026. Coverage has continued to grow since, so treat these figures as a floor, not a ceiling.
What counts as full fibre?
A connection where the fibre optic cable runs all the way into your home (fibre to the premises). Part fibre products that finish the journey over copper phone lines or coaxial cable do not count, however they are branded.
What does gigabit capable mean, and how is it different from full fibre?
Gigabit capable means the line can deliver download speeds of 1 Gbit/s or more. All full fibre is gigabit capable, but so is Virgin Media's upgraded cable network, which is why the gigabit figure (89%) sits above the full fibre figure (82%).
Why do some reports say 82% full fibre and others 81%?
Both are right. 82% is the share of homes (residential premises) with full fibre. Measured across all premises including businesses, the figure is 81%. We state the base for every figure on this page, and you should be suspicious of any coverage claim that does not.
How many homes can get full fibre but have not switched?
Roughly 14 million premises. Ofcom counts 12.4 million active full fibre connections against 26.3 million premises passed, a take-up rate of 47%.
What is decent broadband and the Universal Service Obligation?
Decent broadband means at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload. If you cannot get it, the broadband Universal Service Obligation gives you the legal right to request a connection from BT, or KCOM in the Hull area, subject to a cost cap.
How many premises still cannot get decent broadband?
About 39,000 premises cannot get it from any fixed line or fixed wireless provider, down from 44,000 in July 2025. Ofcom adds that counting satellite services, only around 4,000 premises lack an affordable decent option.
How do I find the figures for my own area?
Use the Fibre Gap Explorer on this page. Type your council area and you will get its verified coverage, take-up and ranking, with a shareable link. Then check your exact postcode with our comparison tool, because coverage varies street by street.
Which parts of the UK have the best and worst coverage?
Kingston upon Hull leads on full fibre at 99.6% of premises, and Northern Ireland is the best covered nation at 96% of homes. The Scottish islands remain hardest to reach, with Na h-Eileanan Siar at 12% and Shetland at 20%.
Is full fibre more expensive?
Often it is not. Entry full fibre deals frequently undercut the out of contract price of older copper based packages, especially from the alternative networks competing for their first customers. The only way to know for your address is to compare live prices.
What about 5G and mobile coverage?
4G from all four operators covers 84% of UK landmass, and 5G from at least one operator reaches 98% of premises outdoors. 5G standalone, the newer full version of 5G, is live on O2 (85% of premises outdoors), EE (73%) and Vodafone (49%), with Three yet to launch it.
Does this affect my landline?
Indirectly, yes. The analogue phone network switches off on 31 January 2027, and most broadband switches now move your calls to a digital voice service automatically. If you have a healthcare pendant or telecare device, tell your provider before switching.
Can I trust these numbers?
Every statistic on this page is either taken directly from Ofcom's published report or recomputed by us from Ofcom's raw open data files, and we say which is which in the method note. Where a figure is a projection or could not be independently verified, we label it.
When is the next Connected Nations report?
The full Connected Nations 2026 report, based on July 2026 data, is expected in November 2026. We will publish our analysis within 48 hours of release.
How do I find my contract end date?
Ask your provider or check your online account. Providers must send end of contract notifications and an annual best tariff reminder, so the date is never a secret.
What speed do I actually need?
Lighter households need less than they think, while busy homes with streaming, gaming and video calls benefit from 100 Mbit/s or more. Test what you get today with Pulse, our free speed test, then buy for how you live.
What is a social tariff, and am I eligible?
A discounted package for households on Universal Credit, Pension Credit and similar support, typically saving around £200 a year. Around nine in ten eligible households are missing it, so check before any switch. Our social tariffs guide lists every provider's offer.
Do I need an engineer visit for full fibre?
Usually yes, the first time: an engineer fits a small optical box where the fibre enters your home, and your provider supplies the router. After that, most switches happen remotely.
Will I keep my phone number?
Normally yes. Calls move to a digital voice service running over your broadband and your number ports across. Tell your provider first if anyone in the household relies on a telecare device.
What about broadband when I move home?
Check what the new address can get before you commit to it, because that decides your options from day one. Moving is a new order rather than a switch, so start it two to three weeks ahead. Our moving and renting hub covers every scenario.
Is 5G home broadband any good?
Where outdoor 5G is strong it is a genuinely credible option, often working within minutes of plugging in. Coverage figures are upper bounds indoors, so trial a router on a returns friendly deal first.
Why is my speed lower than advertised?
Advertised speeds describe the line at peak time averages, and indoor Wi-Fi is usually the real bottleneck. Test on a wired connection if you can, and at different times, before blaming the line.
By UK nation
England
82.0% of homes have full fibre and 89.5% are gigabit capable, on a base of 25.4 million homes. Superfast reaches 98.2% and just 0.7% of homes lack a decent fixed line. See current deals.
Scotland
Full fibre reaches 74.9% of homes and gigabit 83.5%, both the lowest of the four nations but among the fastest six month gainers. 1.5% of Scottish homes lack a decent fixed line, the joint highest exclusion rate with Wales, and the publicly funded R100 programme passed 100,000 connections in June 2026. See current deals.
Wales
A landmark update: 82.5% of Welsh homes now have full fibre, level with England, with gigabit at 84.9%. 1.6% of homes lack a decent fixed line, concentrated in Powys and the rural west. See current deals.
Northern Ireland
Still the UK's fibre capital: 95.5% of homes have full fibre and 96.3% are gigabit capable, helped latterly by the publicly funded Project Stratum build, and Northern Ireland councils dominate the national take-up leaderboard. See current deals.
Download the report
The 82% Country (Report No. 29) is the designed, citable edition of this analysis: 24 pages, ten charts and diagrams, the full method and grading appendix, and APA references. Free, no signup.
Download the PDF (24 pages, 5 MB) Machine readable data (api.json)
Cite as: BroadbandSwitch.uk, The 82% Country (Report No. 29), July 2026, broadbandswitch.uk/reports/the-82-percent-country/.
Keep reading
The Loyalty Penalty
What disengaged UK broadband customers really pay, who pays the most, and why the gap is closing. Report No. 28.
Ofcom Complaints by Provider
The 2026 complaints league: who gets the most complaints, who gets the fewest, and the stories behind the numbers.
The Last Dial Tone
The definitive countdown to the UK analogue phone switch off on 31 January 2027, and what it means for 1.9 million remaining lines.
The Great Consolidation
Why we put 68% odds on UK fibre consolidating to three national platforms, and what the CMA's Phase 2 review means for prices.
Connected Nations 2025
Our full analysis of the July 2025 data, the baseline this update builds on.
UK Broadband Market 2000 to 2030
Three decades of the UK broadband story in one authority report, from dial-up to the gigabit age.
Method, transparency and references
Method note
Headline coverage figures on this page are for residential premises ("homes", UK base 30,455,777 in January 2026) and are stated as Ofcom rounds them, with the unrounded values available in our data companion. Full fibre take-up and the decent broadband exclusion figures cover all premises, residential and commercial, matching Ofcom's own presentation. Local authority figures come from Ofcom's all premises file, which is why the Fibre Gap Explorer shows the UK average as 81% rather than 82%. The estimate of roughly 14 million premises passed but not connected is derived by us from Ofcom's figures (26.3 million premises passed at 47% take-up) and is labelled as derived. The 92% figure for January 2029 is Ofcom's Planned Network Deployments projection, not achieved coverage. We recomputed every statistic we could from Ofcom's raw open data files; the small number of figures that appear only in Ofcom's report text rather than the data files, principally the 12.4 million connection count, the 47% take-up rate and the 4,000 affordable access figure, are cited to the report itself. Take-up throughout is measured against premises that can already get full fibre, not against every address. Ofcom separately identifies around 7,000 commercial premises that could additionally be eligible under the USO, outside the 39,000 figure.
The Data Lab
In the spirit of showing our work: this page was built from four Ofcom source files covering 361 local authorities, 650 Westminster constituencies, 131 devolved constituencies and the UK and nations summaries, totalling more than 1,000 data rows for fixed coverage and a 154 column mobile dataset. Our verification pass confirmed that Ofcom's published headlines match the raw files exactly, including the 39,000 decent broadband figure, which sums to 39,072 across the local authority file. A machine readable companion for this page is available at /reports/the-82-percent-country/api.json.
References
- Ofcom, Connected Nations update: Spring 2026, published 13 May 2026 (January 2026 data). ofcom.org.uk
- Ofcom, open data: fixed broadband coverage and full fibre take-up, January 2026 snapshot (v2, 7 July 2026).
- Ofcom, open data: mobile coverage, January 2026 snapshot (r01).
- Ofcom, About this data: fixed coverage and full fibre take-up (v2); About this data: mobile coverage. Connected Nations Spring 2026 accompanying documents.
- Ofcom, Connected Nations 2025, published 19 November 2025 (July 2025 data).
- Ofcom, Planned Network Deployments 2026, published alongside the Spring 2026 update.
- Building Digital UK, Project Gigabit delivery data, July 2026 update.
- Competition and Markets Authority, nexfibre / Substantial Group merger inquiry, Phase 2 reference (statutory deadline 15 December 2026).
- Scottish Government, Reaching 100% (R100) programme delivery update: 100,000 connections, June 2026.
- ISPreview UK, coverage of the Connected Nations Spring 2026 update, 13 May 2026 (secondary source, industry commentary).
- thinkbroadband, coverage of the Connected Nations Spring 2026 update (secondary source, independent tracker comparison).
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