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Ultrafast broadband now available to more than half of UK households

Paul Lipscombe
May 6, 2019

Mobile coverage has also improved, with better 4G signal and less ‘not spot’ areas

Ofcom has revealed that ultrafast broadband is now available to more than half of all UK properties. 

The findings comes from Ofcom’s latest data on broadband and mobile availability report, using data that was collected in January from broadband and mobile companies.

It found that 53 per cent of UK properties can offer ultrafast broadband, with speeds of at least 300Mbit/s, which is up from 49pc in September of last year. 

The number of properties that can offer superfast broadband also increased up to 95pc, up from 94pc, while full-fibre broadband has grown one per cent to seven per cent. 

While the number of people unable to get decent broadband (download speeds of at least 10Mbit/s and upload of 1Mbit/s) has dropped by a third in the past year, to 619,000 properties (two per cent). 

There was also notable improvements in mobile coverage, as indoor 4G coverage of all four mobile networks grew to 78pc from 77pc, geographic 4G coverage of all four mobile networks now covers 67pc of the UK land area, again another one per cent increase. 

The ‘total not spots’ account for eight per cent of the UK land area, an improvement from the nine per cent in September 2018. 

uSwitch head of regulation Richard Neudegg commented: “While the number of households which can access superfast and ultrafast broadband continues to grow, uptake of these faster speeds remains the challenge for the broadband industry, with fewer than half of broadband users subscribing to the better services.

“For the third of consumers whose initial contract period has lapsed and who were on regular broadband, they may find that they can actually save money on their monthly outgoings as well as getting considerably quicker broadband service.

As shared by our sister publication Mobile News

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