The report also revealed that there has been a significant increase in the availability of gigabit-capable connections, including broadband delivered over full fibre. Eleven million homes (37 per cent) can now get gigabit-capable services, which is up from around eight million (27 per cent) last September.
The government has recently announced plans to extend gigabit-capable broadband availability to 85 per cent of homes by the end of 2025, with Virgin Media and BT Openreach recently having upgraded their networks.
According to an Ofcom spokesperson: “Broadband delivered over full-fibre networks is faster and more reliable than the decades-old copper connections that most people still use. Availability of superfast broadband remains at 96 per cent and mobile coverage has remained stable. Mobile coverage is set to increase across the UK as companies continue to roll out a shared rural network.”
Following the report, BT announced plans to extend its Openreach full-fibre broadband to 25 million premises by 2026.
Philip Jansen, chief executive of BT Group, said: “BT is already building more full fibre broadband to homes and businesses than anyone else in the UK. Today we are increasing our FTTP [fibre-to-the-premises] target from 20 million to 25 million homes and businesses to deliver further value to our shareholders, and support the government’s full fibre ambitions.
“This has three massive benefits. it allows us to go faster, beefing up our capacity to build fibre to households and businesses. It allows us to go further, getting fibre to more people including in rural communities. Thirdly, it will help fuel UK economic recovery, with better connectivity and up to 7,000 new jobs.”
