Research Round-up February 2026
- Veronica Speiser
- Mar 6
- 5 min read
Key publication of the month:
Key findings:
As of January 2026, the lowest available broadband subscription at the ‘small area’ level varied from £12.50 (an FTTP tariff) to £35.28 (an FWA tariff). The downstream bandwidth varied from 11Mbps to 2,500Mbps.
Entry-level tariffs in the under £20 range were available to just 21.9% of ‘small areas’. Twice as high a proportion of areas had entry level tariffs of £25 or higher, compared to May 2025.
The bandwidth on entry-level tariffs also went up. The percentage of ‘small areas’ in the 100-200Mbps bandwidth range increased from 49.2 to 64.1%, while that in the 200-500Mbps range jumped from 4.4% to 18.1%.
FTTP has become even more dominant as the cheapest broadband technology, available in 69.3% of the UK postcodes, up from 43.2% in May 2025.
Rural LSOAs in England and Wales had on average 4.7 ISPs. The same figure for urban LSOAs was 6.3.
The average cheapest subscription in the postcodes with only one ISP was £30.07, compared to £24.62 in more competitive areas. The average downstream speeds were 67Mbps and 115Mbps respectively.
At the ‘small area’ level across the UK, entry-level broadband subscriptions varied from £12.50 to £35.28 a month. Compared to May 2025, the highest subscription has gone up from £29.95, as we are now taking into account mid-contract price rises. The complete table of the lowest price broadband providers across LSOAs, DZs and SDZs (‘small areas’) can be found in the full analysis article.
Compared to May 2025, we saw the cheapest broadband tariffs becoming available in slightly fewer ‘small areas’. In January 2026, the entry-level tariffs at the lower end of the price range (£10 - £14.99) were available in 11.5% of ‘small areas’, as opposed to 13.1% we recorded in May 2025. However, entry-level tariffs in the under £20 range were available in 21.9% of ‘small areas’, compared to 19.1% of areas in May 2025, so there was a small improvement.
Twice as high a proportion of ‘small areas’ had higher entry-level tariffs, compared to May 2025. They varied between £25.00 and £29.99 in 32.8% of ‘small areas’ in January 2026, compared to 15% in May 2025. The largest proportion of ‘small areas’ (44.3%) had entry-level tariffs ranging from £20.00 to £24.99 (this figure was 65.9% in May 2025). The fact that we are now taking into account mid-contract price rises did have some effect on price distribution in our January 2026 data, although we recorded price increases for many ISPs, including the altnets that offer prices fixed for the duration of the contract. Understandably, inflation and increased costs played a part.
The geographical distribution of the monthly pricing can be seen in the map below. In England, the lowest entry-level broadband tariffs tended to be available in large swathes of mainly rural areas, where FTTP altnets and some FWA providers have significant footprints, as well as in London, where Community Fibre offered its £12.50 plan. Several altnets offered £20-24 plans in many small areas in South Wales, the Southwest, the Midlands, and the Northeast. The tariffs at the higher end of the spectrum dominated a lot of the rest of England and Wales as well as urban areas in Northern Ireland and many ‘small areas’ of Scotland.
Read the complete article in our free analysis here.
Other publications of the month:
TalkTalk’s Consumer ISP and Wholesale Sell Off: Potential Acquisition Assessment
Nexfibre Acquisition of Netomnia: Market Implications
Market Shake-Up Looms as KCOM Owner Explores Sale
UK ISP Market Trends: Key Insights into the ISP Market Share UK
UK broadband availability in Q4 2025: Gigabit coverage edges towards 90%
Key February telecoms sector news
BT Group News
2 February – BT completes sale of its Radianz business to TNS.
4 February – EE named the UK’s number one network in two landmark studies – official results revealed.
5 February – BT published its trading update for the quarter and nine months to 31 December 2025.
10 February – BT Group announces leadership succession within Openreach and BT International.
27 February – BT launches new Sovereign Voice product for UK businesses.
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) News
4 February – Virgin Media O2 extends partnership with Zinkworks to accelerate automation across its mobile network and minimise downtime.
6 February – Affirm and Virgin Media O2 are today announcing a new partnership that will see the transparent and flexible payment network provide upfront and honest hardware financing to O2 – one of the UK’s leading mobile providers.
12 February – O2 brings faster, more reliable 5G to Manchester and surrounding areas.
17 February – New customers joining Virgin Media can benefit from up to £250 bill credit when switching.
CityFibre (CF) News
23 February – Suffolk Community Foundation has been awarded £50,000 from CityFibre’s Community Fund, a programme designed to realise the benefits of a full fibre upgrade for local communities. The award will be invested into Suffolk Community Foundation’s Digital Inclusion Fund, which will go onto to be shared amongst more projects that support the community and help address digital barriers across Suffolk.
Independent Operators (Altnets) News
4 February – brsk starts informing customers that it will be merging into sister-brand YouFibre, and will no longer be taking orders from 5 March 2026.
5 February – Broadband ISP VISPA informs UK customers of closure and liquidation.
11 February – Truespeed Communications and Freedom Fibre announce they have signed an agreement to combine their businesses, creating a scaled, capital-efficient full-fibre platform.
12 February – AllPoints Fibre partners with Sky Business Wholesale to share UK Ethernet.
18 February – Netomnia, owned by investors Advencap, DigitalBridge and Soho Square Capital, announced that it has agreed to join nexfibre, the wholesale fibre joint venture backed by InfraVia Capital Partners, Liberty Global and Telefónica, in a landmark transaction that will create the UK’s largest alternative full fibre platform.
18 February – Quickline announced that it has covered 40,000 premises out of the total 121,210 premises contracted across its publicly subsidised Project Gigabit contracts.
Other News
2 February – Common Wholesale Platform sells UK assets and brand to Digital Destiny.
7 February – BDUK announces that it has amended Wessex Internet's Lot 14.02 contract and has increased it by £9,482,533 from £28,736,039 to £38,218,572. The awarded premises have increased by 12,313 premises from 7,224 to 19,557.
10 February – The Scottish Government has relaunched its R100 gigabit broadband procurement programme for Fife, Perth and Kinross. The proposed contract is valued at £28,557,891 and aims to help expand such a network to cover an estimated total number of 17,830 premises.
17 February – Ofcom grant Virgin Media O2 approval for mobile calls via satellite.
22 February – Government rejects calls for cheaper rural access to Openreach’s UK cable ducts.
23 February – Wildanet had informed Building Digital UK that it wished to withdraw from fully completing the build on two Project Gigabit contracts covering south west and central Cornwall. Wildanet has successfully connected around 13,200 premises to date under these contracts, from an original target list of about 19,250, but will no longer deliver to the remaining premises.
23 February – Broadband and mobile providers adapting to new UK price transparency rules.
26 February – Ofcom published its annual pricing and consumer engagement report. Overall, consumers are getting more for less, but this year’s research shines a light on areas where millions of people could make big savings on their bills.
26 February – TalkTalk Business completes separation from TalkTalk Group.
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