Home
 » ISP News » 
Sponsored Links

Q2 2017 “Fibre Broadband” Take-up Progress for the £1.6bn BDUK Project

Saturday, Sep 9th, 2017 (9:42 am) - Score 2,242

The Government’s Broadband Delivery UK project has published its latest Q2 2017 take-up data for the state aid supported roll-out of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) services across the United Kingdom, which shows that many regions are seeing 40%+ adoption and that will boost clawback.

Just to clarify. The figures reflect % customer take-up of FTTC (plus a tiny number of FTTP and Fixed Wireless) broadband networks in areas that have been upgraded through the BDUK programme (i.e. % subscribed of premises passed by BDUK supported networks). At present the data only reflects the first two phases of this programme and not any recent or future contracts.

All of this complements the Government’s other big announcement today about BDUK progress and clawback (here).

BDUK Phases 1 (Completed Spring 2016)

Supported by £530m of public money via the Government (mostly extracted from a small slice of the BBC TV Licence fee), as well as significant match funding from local authorities, the EU and BT. Overall it helped to extend “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) services to cover 90% of homes and businesses in the United Kingdom.

BDUK Phase 2 (Completion by 2017/18)

Supported by £250m of public money via the Government, as well as match funding from local authorities, Local Growth Deals and some from ISPs (e.g. BT, Gigaclear, Airband, Call Flow etc.). The aim is to extend 24Mbps+ capable broadband services to cover 95% of homes and businesses by around the end of 2017.

Phase One was broadly dominated by Openreach (BT) linked contracts and this has now completed. Meanwhile the on-going Phase Two contracts have seen a mix of extension deals with BT and several alternative network providers (Gigaclear, Call Flow etc.), including some use of Fixed Wireless Access technology.

Crucially the BDUK contracts include a clawback (gainshare) clause, which requires the suppliers (e.g. BT) to return part of the public investment when customer adoption of the new service passes beyond the 20% mark in related areas. The funding can then be reinvested to further improve coverage and speeds via future contracts.

So far it looks as if over £645 million could be returned via clawback and efficiency savings, which BDUK has estimated could be enough to boost the UK coverage of fixed line superfast broadband networks from 95% by the end of 2017 to 98% by the end of 2020.

The following table breaks the take-up data down by each BDUK local authority (project area), although for the proper context these percentages should ideally be considered alongside the most recent premises passed (network coverage) data (see bottom). So far BDUK has helped to expand superfast broadband services to 4.6 million UK premises and rising.

NOTE: Some of the counties have divided their roll-outs into separate projects / contracts. For example, Phase One in Shropshire doesn’t include the ‘Telford and Wrekin‘ area because that is part of a separate Phase Two contract inside the same county.

BDUK Phase One Take-up (Average %)

Project Area
Uptake % (Jun 2016) Uptake % (Sept 2016) Uptake % (Mar 2017) Uptake % (Jun 2017)
Berkshire Councils 34.8 40 46 47.9
Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire 34.1 38.1 45.8 48.4
Cambridgeshire, Peterborough 34.7 37.5 43.3 45.5
Central Beds, Bedford Borough, Milton Keynes 31 34.7 43.8 47.1
Cheshire East, Cheshire West & Chester, Warrington, Halton 35 36.6 42.9 45.5
Devon & Somerset (including, Plymouth, Torbay, North Somerset, Bath & NE Somerset) 24.4 28.7 35.4 38.3
Coventry, Solihull, Warwickshire 32.9 36.4 43.6 46.2
Cumbria 27.5 32.3 38.1 40.3
Derbyshire 22.5 27.4 34.5 37.3
Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole 24.1 29 35.8 38.4
Durham, Gateshead, Tees Valley and Sunderland 22.8 27.8 34.8 37.3
East Riding of Yorkshire 30.3 32.1 39.5 41.9
East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 29.4 34.4 41.9 44.2
Essex, Southend-On-Sea, Thurrock 26.7 32.1 40.8 44
Greater Manchester 28.5 23.4 30.1 32.5
Hampshire 31.5 34.2 40.2 42.7
Herefordshire and Gloucestershire 24.1 28.3 35.8 39
Isle of Wight 22.7 26.5 33.4 36.2
Kent and Medway 29.8 33.6 40.3 42.9
Lancashire, Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen 32.9 29.3 34.8 37
Leicestershire 30.8 33.7 40.9 43.9
Lincolnshire 29.6 34 41 43.1
Merseyside 26.4 23 28.6 31
Newcastle upon Tyne 28 24.9 30.8 32.9
Norfolk 30.2 34.4 40.2 42.2
North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire 32.8 33.9 39.8 41.8
North Yorkshire 37.1 39.1 43.9 45
Northamptonshire 40.1 39.2 45.3 47.6
Northumberland 30.8 36 42 44.1
Nottinghamshire 29.7 33.2 40.6 43.2
Oxfordshire 33.9 37.6 44.4 46.9
Rutland 53.8 51.5 54.5 55.6
Shropshire 29.1 32.6 37.1 39.6
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent 26.8 28.8 37.1 39.7
Suffolk 33.6 36.5 42.3 44.4
Surrey 44.2 42.8 47.4 49.4
West Sussex 33.9 37.1 43.6 46.1
West Yorkshire 30.4 28.2 34.5 36.8
Wiltshire 34.8 36.1 43.5 45.4
South Gloucestershire 34.8 36.1 43.5 48
Worcestershire 26.2 31.1 40.6 43.9
Devolved Administrations
Highlands and Islands 22.9 28.1 33.5 36.8
Northern Ireland 27.3 31.1 37.3 40.9
Rest of Scotland 22.3 25.8 31.3 33.1
Wales 26.4 28.8 34.3 37.3

BDUK Phase Two Take-up (Average %)

Project Area Uptake % (Jun 2017)
Bedford & Milton Keynes 14.9
Black Country 14.8
Bucks & Herts 20.3
Cheshire 28.9
Cornwall 22.1
Cumbria 18.3
Derbyshire 20
Dorset 14.1
Durham 17.2
East Riding (Yorkshire) 26
East Sussex 26.4
Essex 24.4
Hampshire 23.3
Kent 23.7
Lancashire 23.4
Leicestershire 23.7
Lincolnshire 21.2
Norfolk 32
North Lincolnshire 21.1
North Yorkshire 35.4
Northamptonshire 21
Northern Ireland 17.6
Northumberland 29.0
Nottinghamshire 28.2
South Gloucestershire 16.8
South Yorkshire 21.0
Staffordshire 20.7
Suffolk 31.7
Telford & Wrekin 23
Warwickshire 34.9
West Sussex 23.9
West Yorkshire 16.5
Wiltshire 22.3
Worcestershire 27.5
Devolved Administrations
Highlands and Islands  no data yet
Northern Ireland 17.6
Rest of Scotland  no data yet
Wales  no data yet

IMPORTANT: Take-up is a dynamically scaled measurement, which means that at certain stages of the scheme it may go up or even down depending upon the pace of deployment (i.e. premises passed in any given time-scale), although over time the take-up should only rise.

Explained another way, early phases of the roll-out are easier and faster to deploy, so you can expect to see a bit of a yo-yo movement with the take-up % sometimes falling if lots of new areas are suddenly covered. Some contracts are also younger than others and will thus take time to catch-up. However BDUK’s roll-out pace is also starting to slow as they reach tricky rural areas (Phase 2), which will give take-up a chance to climb in Phase 1.

A number of other factors can also impact take-up, such as the higher prices for related “fibre” services, as well as customers being locked into long contracts with their existing ISP (they can’t upgrade immediately) and a lack of general availability awareness (locals don’t know it exists) or interest in the new connectivity (if you have a decent ADSL2+ speed then you might feel less inclined to upgrade).

In other cases the new service may run out of capacity (i.e. demand is higher than expected), which means that people who want to upgrade are prevented from doing so until Openreach resolves the problem. However the scale of this issue is very small.

Now, for some context, here’s the latest progress report on related contacts for the same period.

Funding and Premises Passed Progress (BDUK Phase 1 + 2)

Total BDUK Contracted Funding Total Local Body Funding (Councils etc.) Current Total Contracted premises Delivered to Date (June 2017)
Bedfordshire & Milton Keynes £6,380,000 £7,830,000 52,906 41,174
Berkshire £5,153,017 £4,603,250 39,213 24,993
Black Country £2,891,500 £2,988,349 39,109 33,140
Bucks & Herts £10,837,000 £11,415,000 94,428 61,685
Cambridgeshire £8,250,000 £17,750,000 101,620 98,124
Cheshire £6,461,000 £17,282,000 82,468 75,379
Cornwall £5,960,000 £12,529,786 7,738 3,895
Cumbria £19,959,519 £18,798,000 120,065 112,755
Derbyshire £9,579,550 £9,580,000 94,386 87,451
Devon & Somerset £52,810,499 £33,575,987 338,472 284,915
Dorset £13,741,841 £12,349,470 76,018 73,190
Durham £12,786,267 £11,763,000 113,791 100,760
East Riding (Yorkshire) £10,507,459 £5,193,079 47,332 46,535
East Sussex £13,640,000 £17,000,000 62,818 59,178
Essex £13,049,000 £13,049,000 138,140 92,298
Greater Manchester £3,440,000 £5,923,000 41,363 39,014
Hampshire £15,262,307 £14,180,000 106,434 70,675
Herefordshire & Gloucestershire £30,635,605 £26,791,705 145,277 116,880
Highlands & Islands £50,830,000 £75,600,000 138,861 131,085
Isle of Wight £2,490,000 £2,490,000 17,617 17,649
Kent £17,063,509 £14,998,391 141,088 128,794
Lancashire £14,670,000 £22,540,000 147,333 139,390
Leicestershire £7,968,895 £10,884,647 74,479 62,211
Lincolnshire £16,110,000 £17,910,000 137,949 123,691
Merseyside £5,460,000 £4,374,000 43,905 42,228
Newcastle £970,000 £945,131 6,760 6,697
Norfolk £24,650,000 £24,210,000 202,367 173,877
North Lincolnshire £4,320,000 £1,880,963 29,442 27,878
North Yorkshire £20,840,000 £16,736,378 161,044 161,115
Northamptonshire £9,856,668 £12,706,064 80,209 68,865
Northern Ireland £11,453,615 £21,953,615 65,745 46,949
Northumberland £10,687,867 £11,986,750 49,620 45,327
Nottinghamshire £7,130,000 £8,688,644 66,807 60,080
Oxfordshire £8,184,500 £11,254,500 78,007 73,197
Rest of Scotland £50,000,000 £107,575,000 572,563 501,887
Rutland £1,000,000 £1,430,088 9,492 9,345
Shropshire £19,317,466 £12,722,000 69,626 53,047
South Gloucestershire £3,370,000 £3,282,250 21,616 15,728
South Yorkshire £9,845,096 £9,775,096 95,664 53,263
Staffordshire £9,620,000 £7,440,000 80,937 73,113
Suffolk £26,940,000 £26,275,631 123,434 100,187
Surrey £1,310,000 £20,000,000 76,958 77,141
Swindon £950,000 £950,000 20,138 8,649
Telford & Wrekin £2,157,000 £1,843,000 8,822 5,878
Wales £66,966,573 £156,406,573 728,737 653,315
Warwickshire £8,505,000 £8,505,000 58,869 48,233
West Sussex £8,011,243 £7,510,000 53,700 47,883
West Yorkshire £11,019,827 £11,175,487 99,913 76,987
Wiltshire £9,270,000 £16,496,000 83,543 68,208
Worcestershire £6,887,032 £10,390,000 61,248 50,707
£689,198,855 £903,536,834 5,308,071 4,574,645

The above figures only include 24Mbps+ capable premises in BDUK intervention areas.

UPDATE 11th September 2017

Take note that BDUK made a small mistake in the data and incorrectly listed West Sussex with a phase 1 take-up rate of 23.9%, when it should have been 46.1%. This has now been corrected.

Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
Search ISP News
Search ISP Listings
Search ISP Reviews

Comments are closed

Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5473)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2525)
  4. Openreach (2291)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2234)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1780)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1608)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)

Helpful ISP Guides and Tips

Promotion
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms , Privacy and Cookie Policy , Links , Website Rules , Contact
Mastodon