Gigabit Broadband Coverage Reaches 91 Percent of the UK in H1 2026

We’ve today published our biannual summary of fixed broadband coverage for the first half (H1) of 2026, which reveals that “full fibre” (FTTP) ISP networks have grown to reach 85.05% of UK premises (up from 81.89% in H2 2025) and 91% are within reach of “gigabit” 1000Mbps+ speeds (up from 89.6%). Read on to see details for England, Wales, Scotland and N.Ireland.

All the new gigabit-capable network coverage added during the first half of 2026 has largely come via Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based networks from Openreach (BT), CityFibre, Quickline, Netomnia (YouFibre), Grain and a few other alternative networks (Summary of UK Full Fibre Builds). However, the overall deployment pace has slowed, when compared with prior years, due to wider market pressures.

The reason why “gigabit” coverage is currently still a few points higher than FTTP is down to homes that continue to be covered by some of Virgin Media’s older infrastructure, which uses gigabit-capable DOCSIS 3.1 technology via a Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) network (there’s a lot of overbuild with FTTP in urban areas). Virgin is currently upgrading all of that to FTTP, but that’s a very slow multi-year process.

In addition, most of the progress on gigabit-capable builds seen during 2026 is still down to private investment (commercial builds have already delivered the vast majority of deployments), often with only a little support from the Government’s subsidy schemes. But Project Gigabit, and its subsidised rollout contracts with various providers, is having an impact on this, albeit primarily via the hardest to reach rural premises that typically take longer to cover.

H1 2026 Broadband Coverage Figures

Listed below is the latest independent modelling from Thinkbroadband to the end of June 2026 (H1 – 2026). We should point out that the figure for ‘Under 10Mbps‘ doesn’t include any mobile (4G/5G) coverage (we only looked at fixed line services), which plays a part in the official Universal Service Obligation (USO) but isn’t included in TBB’s mapping. Sadly, it’s incredibly difficult to do an accurate model for mobile networks, especially in terms of a specific performance level.

Fixed Broadband Network Availability H1 – 2026

NOTE: It’s very important to remember that Government / political coverage targets, like the current c.99% for gigabit by 2032, reflect a national average – this will of course be better or worse for different regions / areas.

Take note that each region (Scotland, Wales etc.) may also have its own policy and targets, which will feed into the central UK coverage figure. Furthermore, it’s worth highlighting how much of an impact newer alternative networks (altnets) are having on all this – excluding coverage by Openreach, KCOM (Hull) and Virgin Media.

Altnets were found to have covered 46.13% of the UK with FTTP by the end of H1 2026 (up from 44.79% in H2 2025). This breaks down as 48.84% in England (up from 47.36%), just 21.91% in Wales (up from 20.87%), 35.25% in Scotland (up from 34.81%) and 42.42% in Northern Ireland (up from 41.65%). But the overall coverage improvement delivered from this will be reduced due to overbuild between networks, particularly in urban areas.

As stated earlier, this data is a modelled estimate, not least because it won’t always reflect the very latest real-world position of every single network. But it’s still one of the best and most up-to-date gauges that we have for checking against official claims (Ofcom’s own data tends to be many months behind the latest developments, so TBB’s data is usually more current).

Solutions for Slow Broadband Areas

Finally, those still stuck in sub-10Mbps speed areas will, at least for now, be left with little option but to try harnessing the flawed 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) via BT (UK-wide) or KCOM (Hull-only). Many of those who have pursued the USO say they were offered a mobile broadband (4G or 5G) connection via EE, but those considered “delivered” under the USO itself usually get full fibre (FTTP) lines.

However, the reality is that some people will find they live in areas where not even the USO can cover the colossal upgrade costs of getting FTTP (here and here). Ofcom currently puts the figure for those unable to get 10Mbps+ by any terrestrial means at 39,000 premises (here). The previous government was in the process of examining support options for remote premises and had also been preparing to review the broadband USO (here), which may bring some changes in the future (back in 2017 the Labour Party called for a 30Mbps USO). But we haven’t seen any solid updates on this since 2024.

Failing that, consumers could either try waiting to see if the problem gets resolved or consider exploring the option of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based satellite service (Starlink is good, and they will be joined by Amazon’s Leo network this year). We would also recommend that consumers check via the other mobile operators (Vodafone / Three UK and O2) to see if any of those deliver better 4G or 5G mobile coverage than EE in your area (ideally by conducting your own tests, since official coverage maps are fairly useless) – see our guide to external antennas.