Research Roundup February 2022
Updated: Jun 21, 2022
During February Point Topic published three publications covering the UK fixed line and European mobile broadband markets. Key findings and overviews can be found below and on our free analysis section with detailed reports available via our UK Plus subscribers service, sign-in here to access our UK Plus content.
Superfast and Ultrafast Broadband Deployments in the UK
Premises passed as of Q4 2021
This is our quarterly update on superfast and ultrafast broadband deployments in the UK. The analysis is based on the ThinkPoint broadband availability dataset which includes 1.7m postcodes[1]. More granular, monthly postcode level broadband availability updates by ISP and technology, are available to our ThinkPoint customers.
Key headlines:
By the end of 2021, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) completed its DOCSIS 3.1 based gigabit broadband rollout to 15.5 million homes, which covers its entire footprint.
Openreach added nearly 700K FTTP premises in Q4 2021 to reach 5.8 million.
As of end 2021, almost 3 million UK premises were passed by independent (AltNet) fibre networks.
Nine local authorities had overlapping networks from three independent fibre network operators, while 79 local authorities had two independent fibre networks intersecting.
Kingston upon Hull, Belfast and Milton Keynes were the top fibre cities in the UK, with overall FTTP coverage of 99%, 88% and 87% respectively. In almost half of all local authorities (47.6%) FTTP coverage is still less than 20% of premises.
Our focus area of the month is Cheshire East where 8,000 residential premises lack ultrafast broadband and could be an attractive target for deployment.
At the end of Q4 2021, the total FTTP coverage including Openreach, Virgin Media RFOG and independent fibre networks was 9.1 million premises (28.9% of the UK premises). Virgin Media O2 passed 49.2% of UK premises with their DOCSIS 3.1 based gigabit network. Needless to say, FTTP and DOCSIS 3.1 networks overlap in multiple areas.
FTTP coverage at local authority level – Openreach, VMO2 and Independent Operators
In some areas, Openreach FTTP network is complemented by independent fibre networks and/or Virgin Media’s RFOG network. Also, KCOM has a significant FTTP footprint in the Northeast. Taking this into account, here are the top and bottom ten UK local authorities by total FTTP coverage (Table 1).
* Including Openreach, KCOM, independent networks and Virgin Media RFOG
On 7 December Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) announced the completion of its DOCSIS 3.1 based gigabit broadband rollout to 15.5 million homes, which covers its entire footprint. We found that between the end of Q3 2021 and Q4 2021, the operator added 3.9 million gigabit premises. With just over a million RFOG premises passed, VMO2 remain the second largest FTTP network operator in the UK after Openreach.
In terms of the percentage of premises covered by VMO2’s DOCSIS 3.1 network, following their latest upgrade, the top twenty local authority list has a broad geographical spread (Table 2).
According to their recent announcement, CityFibre have also reached a 1 million FTTP premises milestone although this is not reflected in our data yet. It is possible that they include premises where the network has been built but is not live yet.
Independent network operators have also been pushing forward with fibre rollout. CityFibre is leading the way in terms of the FTTP footprint. The operator has committed to FTTP rollout to 8 million premises by 2025. Hyperoptic has the second largest independent FTTP network with 0.6m premises passed, while Community fibre is a strong third with nearly 0.5m.
Among the larger FTTP network operators, Community Fibre and CityFibre grew their footprints at the highest rates (33.9% and 32.9% respectively) compared to the previous quarter. Trooli and Jurassic Fibre more than doubled their footprint but it grew from a small base. Network overlap by independent fibre network operators has increased further. In Q4 2021, nine local authorities had overlapping networks from three independent network operators (up from six in Q3 2021), though the number of premises passed remained modest. (Table 3).
Across the UK, almost 120,000 premises had access to two or three independent fibre networks at the end of 2021. In total, independent FTTP networks passed 2.9 million premises, or 9.1% of all UK premises.
Ultrafast broadband rollout target area of the month
There are still many pockets across the country with low broadband competition in terms of operators and technologies, which are being overlooked despite potential high demand for ultrafast speeds. In our December 2021 broadband availability dataset, we identified 5,893 LSOAs covering 602,258 households which could be an attractive target for deploying ultrafast broadband[2].
In February, we focused on Cheshire East, where we identified 77 LSOAs meeting the above criteria. They contain 135 postcodes with a total of 7,818 households and have an average attractiveness score of 2.4, varying from 2.002 to 2.859 (Figure 1).
Analysis of Q4 2021 UK ISP subscriber numbers
Summary of key findings
The UK’s gigabit-capable broadband coverage reached an impressive 65% and full fibre (FTTP) coverage reached just over 28.9% of the UK, due largely in part to VMO2 completing their network upgrade, Openreach overcoming previous quarters’ backlogs and independent (AltNet) suppliers making their presence known, especially in rural locations, market towns and cities. AltNets remain an attractive perspective for investors as the quarter saw £805.5 million in financial backing being secured by a handful of ISPs including Broadway Partners, Gigaclear, Lightspeed, Netomnia, Toob, Truespeed and Zzoomm – with a combined aim of passing 8.350 million premises by 2027.
Key trends in Q4 2021:
Total Q4 2021 FTTP, FTTx, cable, FWA/satellite and DSL wholesale connections stood at an estimated 28.3 million, up from 28.1 million Q-o-Q and 27.6 million Y-o-Y.
Total retail connections reached an estimated 29.4 million during Q4 2021, up from 28.9 million Q-o-Q and 27.8 million at the close of Q4 2020.
Since the start of the pandemic we estimate that around 1.061 million broadband lines were added since Q2 2020.
Superfast and ultrafast consumer fixed broadband using predominately FTTP, DOCSIS 3.1 or FTTx, made up around 86% of the UK’s total broadband market (Figure 2).
Combined additions of both super and ultrafast lines reached an estimated 146,000 up 32.7% Q-o-Q.
Connections with speeds of at least 30 Mbps reached a total of 24.3 million up 1.7% from Q3 2021, an increase of 9.9% from 2020.
At the close of Q4 we estimate that just over 53% of lines live on the Openreach FTTx network belong to non-BT service providers.
Smaller FTTx (pre-dominantly FTTP/B) ISPs subscribers saw nearly a 6% increase in the quarter to an estimated 793,000 out of 2.628 million with their market share coming in at 12.7% in Q4 2021 (Figure 3).
ISPs operational performances
All major ISPs reported positive results in the final quarter despite a challenging year of continued pandemic lockdowns and restrictions, supply issues and a saturated marketplace.
BT’s fixed broadband Consumer net additions came in around 44,0000.
BT’s Consumer FTTP customer base increased to 8.6% of their overall connections reaching 1.053 million with a penetration rate of 27% (up 2ppts).
Openreach’s FTTP base grew by 244,000 quarter-on-quarter, their largest ever quarterly increase and stood at 1.508 million up 19.3% from Q3 2021 and nearly doubled from 2020.
VMO2 saw their fixed segment showing a marked improvement (up 42.3%) with their broadband net adds reaching just over 60,000.
VMO2 announce future for wholesale network strategy and aim at establishing a Joint Venture (JV) to fuel their ambition to cover 7 million additional UK homes with full fibre broadband by end 2027.
Sky UK remains the dominant player in its European operations; Sky saw 61,000 net broadband additions throughout its European market and ended the year with around 6.7 million UK subscribers.
Vodafone nearly reached 1 million connections with a reported 991,000 subscribers at year end, up 3ppts.
European Mobile Broadband Tariff Report Q4 2021
Point Topic tracks changes in the 4G LTE / LTE Advanced and 5G tariffs provided by mobile operators across the EU-28 countries along with Norway and Switzerland. We found that at the close of Q4 2021, the average monthly tariff for residential 4G data services varied from $59 PPP (purchasing power parity) in Norway to $17 PPP in Italy. The average monthly subscription for data-only 5G services in our sample varied from $29 PPP in the Netherlands to $88 PPP in France. The average 5G tariffs were more than twice the price of 4G in Poland, Slovenia, Austria, France and Italy.
Key points:
The average data cap on the 4G data tariffs varied from unlimited data in Finland to 13.5 GB in Slovakia.
The average 5G tariffs were more than twice the price of 4G in Poland, Slovenia, Austria, France and Italy.
The average data allowance on 5G tariffs varied from 29 GB in Hungary to 750 GB in Denmark.
The average downstream speed on 5G was 628 Mbps, up from 597 Mbps six months ago. In comparison, the average bandwidth on 4G in Q4 2021 was 173 Mbps.
Other key players announcements along with the month’s news round-up can be found below.
Levelling Up the UK White Paper Confirms Nationwide Gigabit Coverage by 2030
On 2 February the UK Government published its Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper which outlined its 10-year plans to tackle geographical disparity and taking pressure off of London and the South East, “by improving economic dynamism and innovation to drive growth across the whole country, unleashing the power of the private sector to unlock jobs and opportunity for all.” To meet its levelling up and equalisation strategies, the UK Government is setting clear and ambitious medium‑term missions to provide consistency and clarity over levelling up policy objectives. The 12 missions will serve as an anchor for policy across government, as well as catalysing innovation and action by the private and civil society sectors. These missions are ambitions that the UK Government has for all parts of the UK.
Until now the UK Government has been openly vague about its timelines for achieving nationwide gigabit-capable broadband coverage as they scaled back their ambitions to reach 85% coverage by 2025 with the aim of getting as close as possible to 100% without any end date. However, Mission Four finally confirms that by 2030, the UK will have nationwide gigabit-capable broadband and 4G coverage, with 5G coverage for the majority of the population. The Government does stipulate that nationwide coverage for gigabit capable services will cover “at least” 99% of premises, with 4G services likely to cover 95% of the landmass by the end of 2025, with 5G ambitions to reviewed on a rolling basis to ensure targets are fit for purpose. It is worth noting that 5G coverage ambitions have already been downgraded from the Conservative’s 2017 manifesto where it outlined plans to “have the majority of the population covered by a 5G signal by 2027.”
DCMS’ 8 February publication Improving Broadband for Very Hard to Reach Premises: Government Response underscored the need for a mixed technological approach to reaching the c.100,000 remote premises. The report intimates that given the cost-prohibitive solutions to supplying FTTP networks to these remote premises, it is likely that the government will encourage suppliers to use new fixed wireless solutions, LEO satellites (e.g. Starlink, OneWeb) and hybrid platforms to help push faster broadband into the hardest to reach areas. However, there is one drawback and that LEO based solutions are still in early development and may encounter capacity problems with wide take-up, at least in the medium-term. One positive is that of the public respondents to the consultation which ran from 15 March – 25 June 2021, the vast majority were willing to utilise mixed technologies as a solution to more stable and faster broadband, despite the service not being able to offer gigabit speeds.
The government has yet to finalise its approach, however it seems logical to offer a voucher system approach for satellite and/or FWA services to help cover the cost of LEO hardware or to help subsidise wireless builds. However, at present the £89 per month rental on Starlink may be too costly for subscribers, resulting in the subscriber having to utilise a more affordable option such as OneWeb or Eutelsat and then switching over to a more cost effective LEO satellite service.
Key points of Mission Four include:
Aims to address spatial disparities in digital infrastructure provision between densely versus sparsely populated areas.
Seeking alternative solutions to reach the final 0.3% - less than 100k – very hard to reach premises as the economic incentives for the private sector to provide services to these communities are less clear cut.
Metrics for this mission will be tracked at lower tier local authority level using Office of Communications (Ofcom) and Think Broadband data.
News Round-up
UK-based Emtelle, which is global manufacturer of blown fibre and ducted network solutions for the industry announced that it will be expanding their UK manufacturing facilities to Wrexham, North Wales, to “support the unprecedented demand in passive network solutions for our UK clients.” They currently supply numerous full fibre ISPs including B4RN, Gigaclear, Ogi and Virgin Media O2. On 24 February, Thinkbroadband reported that 32% of UK premises are now covered by an FTTP network edging up from 31.46% of premises at the close of January 2022.
Early in February the major ISPs released their Q4 2021 operational/financial results as outlined above. Around 27% of BT Consumer’s subscribers are taking a >100 Mbps service where it is available. Whereas Virgin Media O2’s DOCSIS 3.1 network still boasts faster speeds and wider availability with 99% of their subscribers being on 100 Mbps or greater speed tiers. Consumer fixed revenue growth showed signs of improvement, rising by a decent 1.7% over the previous quarter to -1.4%. Consumer revenue was marginally down primarily due to the decline of their legacy BT voice product and lower post-paid mobile revenue because of reduced market activity and continued handset to SIM-only migration. This was partially offset by continued growth in the BT broadband base, and stronger BT Sport revenue following the cancellation of sporting fixtures last year due to Covid-19.
EBITDA improved driven by lower indirect commissions and tight cost management, more than offsetting the benefit of prior year sports rights rebates recognised in H1 FY21. EBITDA in Q4 2021 also benefited from several small one-off items (Table 4). Their FTTP base reached 1.053 million increasing by 108,000 in the quarter, their highest ever quarterly increase, and their 5G ready base now stands at over 6.4 million with the continued rollout at pace of EE's 5G network. BT’s churn also stayed near record lows, and they achieved their highest ever NPS results for both BT and EE consumer brands. In the latest published Ofcom complaints data BT and EE complaints rates were below industry average with EE having the lowest complaints rate for broadband and landline and was joint lowest for mobile.VMO2 completed its entire gigabit-capable DOCSIS 3.1 network upgrade on 7 December, covering 15.659 million premises. It launched its first joint bundles (VOLT) for consumer and small office and home office (SOHO) customers in early October, just four months after the start of the joint business, with these bundles driving growth in fixed-mobile convergence penetration to 45 per cent by the end of 2021. Fixed net adds were 142,000 in 2021, with 53,000 in Q4 representing a seventh consecutive quarter of growth in both Project Lightning areas and its existing footprint, whereas broadband net adds were 177,000 in 2021 of which 60,400 were delivered in Q4. The operator also grew its SOHO customer base by 38 per cent in 2021.
In terms of VMO2’s revenue for the quarter, the total transaction adjusted revenue decreased 0.7%, as compared to end 2020, to £2.7 billion in Q4 supported by an improvement in mobile revenue which increased 0.8% to £1.6 billion. Consumer fixed revenue decreased by 0.5% Y-o-Y to £858.5 million. A 2.5 per cent Y-o-Y increase in fixed-line customers was offset by a 3% Y-o-Y decline in transaction adjusted fixed-line customer ARPU due to a change in customer mix and the impact from regulated annual best tariff notifications.
In Q4 2021, the Project Lightning’s expansion passed 93,000 premises which is comparable to Q1 2020 which was effectively the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The total build to date is 2.7 million premises with around 1.5 million via FTTP and the rest as Hybrid Fibre Coax. VMO2 aims to accelerate its Lightning build in 2022 and pass more than 500,000 premises, which would need to see the operator shifting up a gear and averaging around 125,000 premises per quarter.
During the month AltNet operators continued their full fibre deployments at pace and several key announcements were made throughout the month. Hyperoptic, which focuses on multi-unit dwellings along with new build homes in urban areas, announced on 28 February that its full fibre (FTTB) network had passed 750,000 premises with over 230,000 subscribers and aims to pass 2 million premises by end of 2023. On 4 February relative-newcomer Lit Fibre announced that its 10 Gbps symmetrical network services had gone live in Evesham (Worcestershire) with prices starting at £23 per month for the 100 Mbps tier and £39 for its 1 Gbps service. This was followed on 21 February by Clacton-on-Sea (Essex) going ready for service. Hull-based ISP, Pure Broadband, which competes with KCOM, CityFibre and OFNL announced they have signed up 5,000 new subscribers in the past 12 months and have starting expanding their business operations within the area. YouFibre also announced that their new gigabit-capable FTTP network, which is being built by network partner Netomnia across various UK towns, has now surged again to attract a total of 5,000 customers (up from 2,500 in October 2021 and just 1,000 in June 2021). On 15 February, Wight Fibre hit the 10,000th full fibre subscriber milestone and currently covers 35,000 premises across the Isle of Wight. Zzoomm announced on 8 February that its network has gone live in Crewe and Nantwich, followed on the 28 February with services going live in Crowthorne and Sandhurst. On 22 February, the state-aid support Connecting Devon and Somerset programme, contracted by Airband reported that the ISP has covered tens of thousands of rural properties across the region. The full fibre network has now gone live in many areas in and around Barnstaple, Bratton Fleming, Braunton, Croyde, and Goodleigh, with teams working on the final hard-to-reach properties. A full list of nearly completed along with the next project areas can be found here. Openreach who are also contracted for the programme have added a further 100 premises to their rollout, with further information available here.
On 14 February, Complete Technology Group (CTG) is preparing to improve the broadband capability of 700,000 homes across the UK after securing £125 million investment from InfraRed Capital Partners (InfraRed). CTG was established during the Covid pandemic by a group of four experienced infrastructure experts with the aim of improving fibre optic connectivity to poorly served communities, including multi-occupancy, social and new-build housing, whilst driving up installation standards and accountability, and reducing the risk of fire. On 16 February, it was reported that Channel Islands ISP, Sure, had completed a major network capacity upgrade which would benefit 170,000 premises across the channel islands. To deliver the upgrade, Sure worked with the civil engineering provider, Telent which upgraded the existing platform to a new 100G Juniper core network. In acquisition news, Daisy Group announced on 17 February, that it has signed a deal to acquire XLN Group, a London provider of business broadband, phone and card payments. The £210 million acquisition, is expected to raise Daisy’s product portfolio for the SME market, taking the company to over 200,000 customers with combined revenues of over £200 million.
BT Group News
· 3 February – Openreach announced a reward of up to £20,000 is available for anonymous information given to the charity Crimestoppers, which leads to the conviction of those responsible for recent cable thefts in the Cambridgeshire villages of Swavesey and Witchford. · 3 February – BT Group enters into exclusive negotiations with American media giant, Discovery, Inc. to create a 50/50 joint venture bringing together BT Sport with Eurosport UK. · 4 February – Openreach announced a £32 million investment scheme to cover more than 108,000 more homes and businesses across the East of England in areas including Dunstable (Bedfordshire), St Ives (Cambridgeshire), further parts of Norwich and North Walsham (Norfolk) as well as Newmarket (Suffolk). · 9 February – BT Group and GXO Logistics Inc. announced a partnership to outsource and transform part of BT Group’s supply chain across the UK as part of a new, long-term relationship. · 10 February – Openreach announced it will create and fill more than 4,000 jobs during 2022 – including around 3,000 apprenticeships – as it continues to invest billions of pounds into its broadband network, people and training; 20% of engineers hired in 2021 were women, up from less than 5% in 2018/19. · 15 February – BT narrows the ‘Digital Divide’ as it makes its social broadband tariff, Home Essentials, available on the high street. · 15 February – BT Digital today announces it has signed a £30 million deal with Distributed, a company providing access to on-demand Elastic Teams™ of technology professionals to enable BT to better serve its customers. · 16 February – Openreach announced St Ives (Cambridgeshire) in line for £3 million full fibre broadband boost, covering around 10,000 premises. · 17 February – BT expands green tech platform to target scale-ups to help manufacturers reach Net Zero. · 23 February - Superfast South Yorkshire achieves major 100k broadband milestone.
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) News
· 1 February – Announced TV customers get access to more than 20 top documentary, entertainment and music channels at no extra cost throughout February. · 7 February – Announced all TV customers get access to kids channels at no extra cost until 8 March. · 7 February – VMO2 jobs and skills boost with 200 new apprenticeship roles. · 13 February – VMO2 announced it will be suspending its 5-year MVNO agreement with Vodafone. · 15 February – VMO2’s 5G coverage in London now has over two-thirds population coverage, as it commits to reaching 50% of the UK’s population in 2023; in 2021 4G network capacity was increased in over 41,000 postcodes in the capital. · 16 February – VMO2 ends charges for off-net home movers and could save customers up to £240. · 16 February – O2 starts Roam Freely campaign marketing that it will be re-introducing EU roaming fees. · 24 February – Virgin Media’s FTTP services have been made available to over 17,000 homes in the Cricklewood area of London; 3,000 homes in Castleford (West Yorkshire) have also been added.
CityFibre (CF) News
· 1 February – CityFibre’s £65 million project in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s FTTP progress. · 2 February - CityFibre responds to the Government’s flagship Levelling Up whitepaper. · 7 February – CF works with Stewart Milne Homes to drive digital inclusion in Aberdeen. · 14 February – CF’s full fibre rollout in Wolverhampton can now cover Molineux Stadium over 2,000 times. · 16 February – CF partners with Deepomatic for nationwide deployment of Visual Automation Technology. · 17 February – BAI Communications underpins Sunderland's 5G future with CityFibre's full fibre network. · 22 February – Wakefield set for full fibre boost as CityFibre begins £27 million rollout. · 23 February – CF makes key appointment as work gets underway on Lincoln’s full fibre rollout. · 23 February – CF celebrates latest milestone in Eastbourne’s full fibre rollout. · 28 February – CF celebrates latest milestone in Edinburgh’s full fibre rollout.
Independent Operators News
· 1 February – Lit Fibre selected Calix’s Intelligent Access EDGE, powered by the Network Innovation Platform (AXOS®), to build a future-proof 10G XGS-PON network that will deliver always on, high-speed broadband services to over 500,000 homes by 2025. · 1 February – Gigaclear runs its first ever TV advert as part of a wider brand refresh. · 2 February – Starlink launch 500 Mbps premium broadband service. · 3 February – Giganet announced prize freeze for duration of 2022. · 4 February – Air Broadband which works with open-source fibre ISPs (CityFibre, OFNL, LilaConnect, FullFibre, etc.) announce full fibre tariff price freeze for 2022. · 9 February – London-based provider, G.Network, announce launch of new cheaper social tariff – Essential Fibre – with speeds of 50/15 Mbps for £15 per month. · 9 February – Quickline Communications rollouts 900 Mbps FTTP network to Lissington, Lincolnshire. · 14 February – Netomnia announced further FTTP network expansion locations including £21 million investment in covering 70,000 premises in Hamilton, Scotland; £8 million to cover 29,000 premises in Barry, Wales; £15 million to cover 51,000 premises in Gravesend, England. · 14 February – Quickline announced offer of standalone 5G technology to both new and existing customers, across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and beyond, offering speeds of up to 450 Mbps, with plans to increase to gigabit capability by the summer. · 14 February – Connect Fibre secures undisclosed amount from Foresight Investment to accelerate installation of a full fibre network across the East of England, reaching over 100,000 homes and businesses once rolled out. · 16 February – Northern Ireland’s state-aid supported Project Stratum contract holder, Broadband ISP Fibrus questioned by a scrutiny committee for the Department for the Economy (DfE) for charging rural areas more. · 16 February – Brighton-based Global Reach Networks and Swedish ISP but has a presence in Birmingham, Open Infra, have applied for Code Powers to deploy their own full fibre networks with the latter citing that it aims to be active in selected locations and Global Reach aiming for deployment in and around Brighton. · 17 February – OneWeb, which is owned by a consortium that includes the UK Government and others, has signed a new deal with the Clarus Networks Group to deliver their ultrafast low-latency broadband service – delivered via satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) – across the UK and Northern Europe. · 21 February – A new report claims that FTTP ISP, Trooli, is close to launching an equity sale process that could raise £200 million and significantly accelerate their rollout target – currently aims to pass 400,000 premises by December 2022. · 22 February – Hampstead Fibre build premium FTTP broadband for homeowners in North London, which is similar to a leased line product. · 22 February – Full fibre ISP, Toob, announce broadband prize freezes for 2022. · 24 February – YouFibre connects first customers to FTTP network in East Kilbride, Scotland. · 24 February – Swish Fibre gives progress update on Home Counties FTTP build and confirm services are now live in 11 out of the 33 towns listed in their initial build plans. · 25 February – 4th Utility applies for Code Powers to support FTTP rollout plans; 36,000 homes by the end of March 2022 and then 94,000 homes by the end of December 2022. · 28 February – Civil engineer firm O’Connor utilities acquires FKS (UK) Limited.
Other Key News Items
Policies, Studies, Survey and Ofcom Announcements
· Improving broadband for Very Hard to Reach Premises: Government response · Project Gigabit Updates on Start of First Live UK Procurements · Gov Extend UK Online Safety Bill via New List of Criminal Content · Government Appears Unlikely to Extend Relief from UK Fibre Tax · Gov Consult on Legal Measures to Ban Huawei from UK FTTP and 5G Mobile · BDUK Publish New Phase 2 Gigabit Broadband Coverage Reviews · Ofcom Finds Just 55000 UK Homes on a Social Broadband Tariff UPDATE2 · Ofcom Sets Initial Views on Future of UK Mobile and Spectrum · Ofcom UK Propose Upper 6GHz Band for Shared Access Licences · Ofcom Shames UK ISP TalkTalk and Shell in Q3 2021 Complaints Study · New Grant Opens to Boost Broadband in South Herefordshire · Possible Broadband Boost as UK Gov Seeks GBP10bn Macquarie Investment · UK Jumps to 4th out of 164 Countries for 2022 Internet Accessibility · Gov Confirms Second Try at UK Internet Age Verification System · Study of 5G Broadband Speeds and Availability in 16 UK Cities · Opensignal Compares Global Impact of 5G on Mobile Data Speeds · New ISP Association Commitments to Help Fix UK Digital Divide
Devolved Nations (Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) Broadband Announcements
Mobile Broadband Announcements
· Gov Names Winners of New Pilots to Aid 5G via Street Furniture UPDATE · Sutton to Boost Mobile Coverage with New Open Access Deals · Vodafone UK Updates on Changes to Roaming and Basics Plans UPDATE · First Ever Independent 4G Coverage Map of Newcastle and North Tyneside · Three UK Launch New 5G Hub for Unlimited Home Broadband UPDATE · Three UK Donates 1 Million GigaBytes to the National Databank · Uswitch 2022 Awards Reveal the Best UK Mobile Operators
[2] We define such ‘attractive’ LSOAs as follows: they are not covered by FTTP or VMO2 networks, have no independent operators present, each particular LSOA contains postcodes with ≥50 households, Their ‘attractiveness’ score is 2 or higher. The attractiveness score, used in our Broadband Availability Forecasts combines affordability and Digital Deprivation Index, population density, and time since last network upgrade.[1] There will be generally a lag to the operator announcements for premises passed at the time since it takes us time to properly track and audit any new deployments, unless the operators tell us about them.