UK led European full fibre rollout in 2023 but lags in uptake

The UK added 4.7 million homes to its full fibre broadband footprint in the year leading up to September 2023, outpacing every other European country.

According to the latest market report from the FTTH Council Europe, this rapid expansion brought the UK's total fibre homes passed to 17.1 million—ranking it third in Europe behind France (26.3 million) and Turkey (18 million).

Given the UK's population size and need to catch up on fibre deployment, its leading position...

21 March 2024 | Broadband

Connected Nations: UK full-fibre broadband reaches 17M homes

A record-breaking 17 million UK homes now have access to full-fibre broadband, according to Ofcom's latest Connected Nations report released today.

The report highlights the advantages of full-fibre broadband, emphasising its increased reliability and resilience compared to traditional copper-based networks. 4.6 million households have already made the switch.

Analysis indicates that providers experience fewer faults on their fibre networks, contributing to a smoother...

19 December 2023 | Broadband

CityFibre awards contracts for its Project Gigabit rollouts

CityFibre has awarded its first round of contracts to build partners as part of Project Gigabit.

Project Gigabit is the government’s £5 billion programme to connect 715,000 rural properties, ensuring they have access to high-speed broadband services.

CityFibre has appointed the following as its build partners:

Granemore Group in Cambridgeshire OCU Group and CCN Communications in Hampshire OCU Group in Norfolk Telelink, OCU Group, and Granemore Group...

22 September 2023 | Broadband

5G Standalone deployments lag in H1 2023

Expectations were high for a surge in 5G Standalone (5G SA) deployments in 2023, yet the first half of the year saw only seven materialise.

30 deployments are listed by STL Partners as "in progress" on their tracker. In a report, the telecoms research firm examined the likelihood of these deployments occurring within 2023 and whether 5G SA remains a critical priority.

Previously, experts predicted a significant uptick in 5G SA core deployments in 2022, but the reality...

11 August 2023 | 5G

CCS Insight: 5G is becoming mainstream in some markets despite rollout slowdown

Analysts from CCS Insight report that 5G is on the verge of becoming mainstream in some advanced markets, despite a slowdown in the rollout.

The analysts believe that global 5G connections will triple to 670 million this year and will still reach 3.6 billion by 2025. However, 5G fixed wireless access is likely to remain a niche technology.

Marina Koytcheva, VP of Forecasting at CCS Insight, said:

"Although our near-term expectations have been dented, we remain...

10 May 2021 | Legislation & Government

Openreach: Full-fibre would be ‘game-changing’ for the UK economy

A report commissioned by Openreach highlights the “game-changing” impact that full-fibre will have on various regions of the UK.

The report, conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), calls full-fibre a “gamechanger” for London, the South East, South West, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, Wales, Yorkshire & Humber, North West, and North East.

Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said:

“Cebr’s previous research...

28 April 2021 | Networks

Ofcom updates wholesale rules to accelerate the full-fibre rollout

Telecoms regulator Ofcom has updated its wholesale rules with the aim of accelerating the full-fibre rollout.

Full-fibre broadband was a key pledge of Johnson’s government but, like most plans, was somewhat derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the UK’s successful vaccine rollout enabling a cautious roadmap to lifting lockdown restrictions, the focus is now shifting to how the country can “build back better” from a virus which dithering and chaotic policymaking...

18 March 2021 | Legislation & Government

MPs reckon the UK will miss even its lowered broadband and 5G targets

A parliamentary committee believes the UK will miss its broadband and 5G targets, despite revising them lower just weeks ago.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee published a report this week which said that the industry had “no genuine belief” the UK will hit its targets.

Nationwide gigabit broadband was a key pledge made on the steps of Downing Street when Prime Minister Boris Johnson took office. Initially, the government planned for nationwide...

22 December 2020 | Legislation & Government

CityFibre awards £1.5B of contracts as it speeds up full-fibre rollout

Full-fibre provider CityFibre has awarded £1.5 billion of construction contracts across 27 towns and cities.

Under current plans, more than five million premises will be covered by the rollout. All of the projects are expected to be in the build phase by summer 2021.

These are the construction partners selected by CityFibre in each town or city:

Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre, said: “By awarding these full-fibre network construction contracts, we can...

5 November 2020 | Networks

Huawei report suggests the UK’s 5G delay risks £108B economic boost

A report for Huawei conducted by Assembly Research highlights the potential costs of the UK delaying its 5G rollout.

The UK’s decision in July to ban Huawei’s equipment has been widely acknowledged – including by the government – as setting back the country’s 5G rollout while simultaneously making it more expensive.

Matthew Howett, Principal Analyst and Founder of Assembly, said:

“The Government’s own expectation of its restrictions on Huawei is...

28 October 2020 | Legislation & Government