UK broadband revolution shows no sign of slowing down
As BT broadband provision division reaches landmark anniversary, research finds UK’s internet habits have hit new heights in terms of working, streaming, gaming and living online
As it celebrates its 20th anniversary, Openreach has released data showing the evolution of the country’s digital habits, revealing continued strong demand for fast, reliable connectivity, with its full-fibre network carrying more data than traditional copper and hybrid fibre technologies.
Outlining its history, the BT-owned company noted that when it was formed in 2006, the UK was moving from dial-up to 8Mbps broadband. Streaming was in its infancy, Nokia and BlackBerry ruled the mobile device world, DVDs were mainstream, and the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 were the latest gaming consoles.
Currently around eight million homes and businesses use Openreach full-fibre, with 21 million premises able to connect. Openreach added that its engineers were connecting around a million premises every three months, aiming for 25 million by the end of 2026 and 30 million by 2030, subject to the right regulatory conditions.
The topline finding from Openreach’s research was that the UK’s online habits have hit unprecedented heights, in particular when it comes to working, streaming video, gaming and living online. The company said broadband usage over its national network soared by 4.8% in 2025, exceeding 108,599 Petabytes (PB) – 108,599 million gigabytes – of data in total. This, said the provider, was enough to stream more than 10 million hours of HD video every single day.
Drilling deeper, the research found that December 2025 was a record-breaker for data consumption, with 10,317PB generated by users on their devices. This came immediately after the single busiest day of 2025 on 30 November, as a massive Fortnite update was released to gamers.
The game became a consistent driver of peaks in demand, with major updates during 2025 coinciding with record-breaking spikes. On 21 February 2025, a large Fortnite patch pushed UK broadband traffic to 372PB, creating the busiest day of the year for its network.
At the same time, usage on the Openreach full-fibre network exploded by 40% last year, overtaking older fixed broadband technologies in late October 2025. The data showed that the average full-fibre customer – with more people upgrading to full-fibre every day – now goes through 22.1GB a day on average. That is said to be the equivalent to taking part in 40 hours of Zoom or Teams calls.
Read more about UK broadband
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- UK gigabit broadband coverage hits 89% of population: Research finds UK has hit a major broadband milestone, marking a significant step towards nationwide coverage and reflecting rapid roll-out by market leaders and a growing number of alternative networks.
Commenting on the anniversary and the research findings, Openreach CEO Clive Selley said: “As we celebrate 20 years of Openreach, this is a historic moment for UK broadband. In two decades, we’ve gone from dial-up speeds to building the nation’s digital backbone – and today, full-fibre is the network of choice for millions. People are upgrading for speed they can rely on, connections that don’t drop out, and the capacity to support everything from remote work to smart homes.
“This progress is thanks to our engineers – past and present – whose skill, dedication and problem solving have connected communities in every corner of the UK. Their work has brought the benefits of better broadband to homes and businesses, and this milestone shows how far we’ve come – and how ready we are for the future.”
