BDUK Publish Annual 2026 UK Gigabit Broadband Rollout Progress Report

The Government’s Building Digital UK agency has today published an annual progress report on their publicly subsidised gigabit broadband rollout schemes. The data reveals that some 1.42 million premises have now received coverage under BDUK’s gigabit programmes since their inception, including 192,570 premises in 2025/26 alone.

At present over 90% of UK premises can already access a 1000Mbps+ (1Gbps) capable broadband network (here) and Ofcom separately forecast that this could reach up to 95% by January 2029 (here). Most of this has been delivered by commercial deployments (predominantly focused on urban and semi-urban areas), but there are some areas in the final c.10% of premises that are simply too expensive for commercial providers.

Project Gigabit was originally established in 2021 and is designed to focus on those commercially unviable areas – usually rural and semi-rural locations with no existing plans for a gigabit upgrade within the next c.3 years. The project has already committed most of its budget up to 2032, but there are still some contracts yet to be awarded and others that have been scaled-back or switched suppliers (e.g. here, here, here, here and here).

The latest update builds on BDUK’s prior report and covers the year from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026, although it should be noted that the agency also publishes regular monthly updates to cover the progress of individual contracts (GIS) under the Project Gigabit scheme (May 2026 example). Today’s report is thus more of a general overall progress update, without any individual contract specifics.

The new report also includes some additional data and a regional breakdown of the figures, some of which we’ve included below. One key thing to note below is that Project Gigabit itself has still only delivered a relatively small amount of gigabit coverage, with the earlier Superfast Broadband Programme (SFBB) continuing to hold the lion’s share (largely because that ran for many years longer and Project Gigabit is much more recent).

Highlights of BDUK’s Gigabit Figures for 2025/26

➤ BDUK interventions delivered gigabit-capable broadband coverage to 192,570 premises in 2025/26, an increase of 42,280 (28%) premises compared with the previous financial year.

➤ Since the launch of BDUK gigabit programmes, an estimated cumulative total of 1,418,410 premises have received gigabit-capable coverage through BDUK subsidy.

➤ Delivery in 2025/26 was primarily driven by Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) contracts, which accounted for 72% (139,490 premises) of all premises delivered. Voucher schemes contributed 16% (30,530 premises), while Superfast and Hubs interventions accounted for the remaining 12% (22,550 premises). The figures reported for GIS do not include delivery for contracts in which BDUK is not the leading authority.

➤ Delivery continued to be concentrated in rural areas, which represented 90% (173,190 premises) of all premises delivered during the year.

➤ Most premises delivered were residential properties. In 2025/26, 90% (173,270 premises) were classified as residential and 9% (17,790 premises) as commercial.

➤ England accounted for approximately three quarters of the delivery (75% – 145,110 premises), followed by Scotland (16% – 30,530 premises), Wales (8% – 15,430 premises), and Northern Ireland (1% – 1,470 premises).

The results also mean that some 257,590 premises to benefit from BDUK’s interventions were classified as “urban“. In addition, of the total able to benefit, 871,360 premises came from areas that didn’t previously have any access to a “superfast” (30Mbps+) capable connection (some 534,210 were from areas that did have access to speeds of at least 30Mbps before the upgrade).

Gigabit Premises passed by year and BDUK intervention

Gigabit Premises Passed by Year, Country and Region