Digital divide declines, but 1.4m homes cannot get decent broadband 16 December 2016
Advice to Government on universal broadband service
Ofcom calls for radical plans to achieve universal mobile coverage
New app available from today to check both Wi-Fi and mobile signals
The number of UK properties unable to get a decent broadband connection has fallen by one million over the past year, new research by Ofcom has found.
But 1.4 million UK homes and offices or 5% of properties remain unable to sign up for broadband speeds over 10 Mbit/s, the speed required to meet a typical household's digital needs. This is down from around 2.4 million, or 8%, last year.
The findings are part of Ofcom's Connected Nations 2016 report an in-depth look at the state of the UK's telecoms and wireless networks. This year's report shows good progress on the availability and take-up of communications services, which are crucial to people's personal and working lives.
However, the report finds there is much more to do particularly in boosting mobile and broadband coverage, and improving the quality of service provided by telecoms companies.
For example, rural areas still lag behind on broadband. Around a quarter of properties in rural areas nearly 920,000 cannot receive a connection of over 10 Mbit/s, often because they are situated a long way from the telephone exchange or local street cabinet.
To help close this speed gap, Ofcom has today set out its technical advice for the UK Government on implementing its plans for universal broadband.
Today's Connected Nations report also presents the current level of mobile coverage across the country. While the picture is improving, with 4G reaching more premises, coverage still falls short and Ofcom wants to see better coverage across the UK's landmass.
So we have begun discussions with mobile operators to look at radical and ambitious solutions to deliver universal mobile coverage, to keep pace with consumers' needs.
Steve Unger, Ofcom Group Director, said: Mobile and broadband coverage continued to grow this year, but too many people and businesses are still struggling for a good service. We think that is unacceptable.
So we're challenging mobile operators to go beyond built-up areas, and provide coverage across the UK's countryside and transport networks. Today we've also provided technical advice to support the Government's plans for universal, decent broadband.
Achieving decent, universal broadbandThe number of properties lacking access to decent broadband has fallen significantly in recent years, and is likely to fall further, given on-going investments by industry and Government.
But the universal service would ensure every home and small business in the country has the right to a decent, affordable broadband connection of 10 Mbit/s or above by the end of the current parliament.
Ofcom's analysis shows that this speed is sufficient to meet the current needs of a typical household. The online activity of users who can access this speed is far less constrained than those who cannot.
However, households are likely to need greater speeds as new, data-hungry applications emerge. We will therefore monitor the universal service and recommend its minimum speed to rise when necessary.
The final design of the service will be decided by Government, and then implemented by Ofcom. We have today set out technical advice to inform the Government's decisions on factors such as speed, eligibility, affordability and funding.
As part of this, we have scoped three potential scenarios standard broadband offering
a 10 Mbit/s download speed; a more highly specified version of this service, including a 1Mbit/s upload speed; and a superfast broadband service.
Government has said its preference is for the universal service to be funded by industry. Under this model, the companies providing the universal service would recover any unfair cost burden from a fund paid into by a range of telecoms companies.
Ofcom has also considered the need for universal broadband to reach the most vulnerable customers, including those on low incomes. There could be a need for a social tariff to provide affordable broadband for these customers, as there is for landline telephones today.(4)
A third of homes are now superfast'The coverage and quality of broadband across the UK has increased significantly over the past year, the Connected Nations report finds.
The average download speed of a broadband service in the UK jumped by 28% in the last year, from 29 Mbit/s to 37 Mbit/s. This reflects not only better coverage, but also people choosing to pay for faster broadband packages.(5)
Almost a third of homes (31%, or 9.1 million) have now chosen to take up superfast broadband a download speed of 30 Mbit/s or more up from one in four (27%, or around 8 million homes) a year earlier.
Superfast broadband is now available to nine in ten UK homes small businesses (89%, or 25.5 million), up from 83% last year. This has been driven by BT upgrading its network; Virgin Media converting more homes to faster packages; alternative' fibre only networks such as CityFibre, Hyperoptic and Gigaclear; and the Government's on-going Broadband Delivery UK programme.
Superfast services are now available to 80% of small and medium sized enterprises or SMEs (almost 1.9m) up from 68% in 2015.
However, 15%of the UK's SMEs are in concentrated areas such as business parks of which 36% do not have superfast speeds, and 11% cannot receive 10 Mbit/s.
Mobile reveals a mixed pictureSeven in ten premises (72%) can now receive an 4G mobile signal indoors from all four networks, up from just 28% last year, as operators continue to roll out faster mobile broadband. Ofcom rules mean that O2 must deliver a mobile data service to 9
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Digital divide declines, but 1.4m homes cannot get decent broadband 16 December 2016 
