UK gigabit broadband coverage hits 89% of population

The latest issue of the bi-annual State of Broadband report from Thinkbroadband.com has revealed that gigabit access has reach a record level of 89% across the UK, while as many as 80% of premises can now access full-fibre broadband, representing, said the analyst, a major achievement in terms of rolling out new infrastructure across the country.

The State of Broadband – September 2025 report was based on market data up to and including 8 August 2025. It showed that the full-fibre level of four out of five premises represented a noticeable leap compared with the 75% recorded in March 2025. Gigabit coverage showed a smaller increase of 1.8%.

UK broadband market leader Openreach strengthened its grip on the industry, claiming 58% of full-fibre premises availability, totalling 19.2 million premises, up from 52% in March 2025. Services from independent broadband providers – altnets – were available to just over two-fifths of premises (43.3%), up from 40.3% previously.

The survey noted that the UK has many altnets and competitors to the incumbent networks – that is, Openreach and KCom in Humberside. It added that despite being smaller in size, these altnets play a vital role where incumbent FTTP services are not available, providing an alternative commercial proposition, which can often be superior for the consumer.

And even though they are less known, these smaller networks are regarded as playing an essential part of the UK’s broadband infrastructure and provide a critical lifeline for local communities desperate for fast broadband.

CityFibre was found to be the leading independent, with 13% coverage, or 4.3 million premises, followed by the growing Netomnia/YouFibre/Brsk joint venture (2.6 million, 8%); Nexfibre XGS-PON (1.8 million, 6%); Virgin Media RFOG (1.7 million, 5%); Community Fibre (1.5 million, 4%); and Hyperoptic (1.3 million, 4%). All of the other broadband services had access to fewer than a million premises.

Digging deeper into the difference in increases in total gigabit and full-fibre availability since March 2025, Thinkbroadband.com attributed the lag to overbuilding by Openreach and the altnets of Virgin Media’s DOCSIS 3.1 network, which already deliver gigabit services, plus the fact that some full-fibre altnets were overbuilding each other.

The survey also observed that full-fibre roll-outs have slowed a little from their peak, partly due to overbuild as Openreach pushes on to its 25 million premises goal. It added that some providers, like Nexfibre, were now catching up on areas that were waiting for key work.

Regionally, Northern Ireland topped the UK’s gigabit availability rate, at 96.9%, followed by England (89%), Scotland (82.8%) and Wales (82.3%).

Commenting on the survey results and looking to the future, Sebastien Lahtinen, a director at Thinkbroadband.com, noted that competition from altnets is growing, and more retailers are using wholesale agreements, which should hopefully increase take-up and encourage investors to increase funding for further roll-outs.

“While full-fibre offers significantly higher speeds, its main advantage is a more reliable service, and with the right retailer, streaming TV will be buffer-free. The astonishing speeds of 1Gbps up to 5Gbps becoming increasingly available might be excessive for many, but they demonstrate that full-fibre is here to stay and will continue to power our connected lives throughout the 21st century,” he remarked.

“For the 20% of homes still without full-fibre, overbuilding may feel unnecessary, but it is vitally important in ensuring competition, both in terms of keeping costs down for consumers and ensuring network operators don’t cut corners in delivering reliable future-proof services.”