Q3 2017 Take-up Progress of the BDUK Superfast Broadband Rollout
The Government’s Broadband Delivery UK scheme has today published its latest Q3 2017 take-up data for the state aid supported roll-out of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) services across the United Kingdom, which sees adoption continue to climb above an average of around 40%.
The figures in this article reflect % customer (premises) take-up of FTTC broadband networks (plus a small number of FTTP and Fixed Wireless services) in areas that have been upgraded through the publicly funded 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 of the most recent or future contracts.
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 and the EU. The public funding is then roughly matched by BT’s private investment. Overall it helped to extend “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) services to cover 90% of homes and businesses in the United Kingdom.
BDUK Phase 2 (Completed December 2017)
Supported by £250m of public money via the Government, as well as match funding from local authorities, Local Growth Deals and private investment from suppliers (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 the end of 2017, although some contracts are on-going into 2018 and will reach beyond 95%.
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, as well as some limited use of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) 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. Efficiency savings from earlier phases can also be reinvested.
So far it looks as if a total of £737 million will be returned via both clawback (£527m) and efficiency savings (£210m), which may rise again during 2018 (more details here and here). BDUK has estimated that the reinvestment could be enough to boost the UK coverage of fixed line superfast broadband networks from 95% today to 98% by the end of around 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).
NOTE: Some of the counties have divided their deployments 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. On top of that the contracts were all signed at different times and so are at different stages of development.
BDUK Phase One Take-up (Average %)
| Project Area (BDUK PHASE 1) | Uptake % (Mar 2017) | Uptake % (Jun 2017) | Uptake % (Sep 2017) |
| Berkshire Councils | 46 | 47.9 | 50.1 |
| Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire | 45.8 | 48.4 | 50.8 |
| Cambridgeshire, Peterborough | 43.3 | 45.5 | 47.9 |
| Central Beds, Bedford Borough, Milton Keynes | 43.8 | 47.1 | 50.3 |
| Cheshire East, Cheshire West & Chester, Warrington, Halton | 42.9 | 45.5 | 48 |
| Devon & Somerset (including, Plymouth, Torbay, North Somerset, Bath & NE Somerset) | 35.4 | 38.3 | 41.2 |
| Coventry, Solihull, Warwickshire | 43.6 | 46.2 | 48.9 |
| Cumbria | 38.1 | 40.3 | 43.3 |
| Derbyshire | 34.5 | 37.3 | 40.1 |
| Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole | 35.8 | 38.4 | 41.6 |
| Durham, Gateshead, Tees Valley and Sunderland | 34.8 | 37.3 | 40.2 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 39.5 | 41.9 | 45.4 |
| East Sussex, Brighton and Hove | 41.9 | 44.2 | 47.4 |
| Essex, Southend-On-Sea, Thurrock | 40.8 | 44 | 46.9 |
| Greater Manchester | 30.1 | 32.5 | 34.3 |
| Hampshire | 40.2 | 42.7 | 45 |
| Herefordshire and Gloucestershire | 35.8 | 39 | 42.1 |
| Isle of Wight | 33.4 | 36.2 | 38.8 |
| Kent and Medway | 40.3 | 42.9 | 45.9 |
| Lancashire, Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen | 34.8 | 37 | 39.4 |
| Leicestershire | 40.9 | 43.9 | 46.6 |
| Lincolnshire | 41 | 43.1 | 45.9 |
| Merseyside | 28.6 | 31 | 34 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 30.8 | 32.9 | 36.4 |
| Norfolk | 40.2 | 42.2 | 45 |
| North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire | 39.8 | 41.8 | 44.1 |
| North Yorkshire | 43.9 | 45 | 49.1 |
| Northamptonshire | 45.3 | 47.6 | 50.1 |
| Northumberland | 42 | 44.1 | 46.9 |
| Nottinghamshire | 40.6 | 43.2 | 45.8 |
| Oxfordshire | 44.4 | 46.9 | 49.6 |
| Rutland | 54.5 | 55.6 | 58.2 |
| Shropshire | 37.1 | 39.6 | 42.5 |
| Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent | 37.1 | 39.7 | 42.2 |
| Suffolk | 42.3 | 44.4 | 46.7 |
| Surrey | 47.4 | 49.4 | 51.1 |
| West Sussex | 43.6 | 46.1 | 48.9 |
| West Yorkshire | 34.5 | 36.8 | 39.4 |
| Wiltshire | 43.5 | 45.4 | 48 |
| South Gloucestershire | 43.5 | 48 | 50.9 |
| Worcestershire | 40.6 | 43.9 | 46.6 |
| Devolved Administrations | |||
| Highlands and Islands | 33.5 | 36.8 | 39.5 |
| Northern Ireland | 37.3 | 40.9 | 43.4 |
| Rest of Scotland | 31.3 | 33.1 | 35.4 |
| Wales | 34.3 | 37.3 | 39 |
BDUK Phase Two Take-up (Average %)
| Project Area (BDUK Phase 2) | Uptake % (Jun 2017) | Uptake % (Sep 2017) |
| Bedford & Milton Keynes | 14.9 | 20.9 |
| Black Country | 14.8 | 17.8 |
| Bucks & Herts | 20.3 | 20.9 |
| Cheshire | 28.9 | 34.8 |
| Cornwall | 22.1 | 21.9 |
| Cumbria | 18.3 | 18 |
| Derbyshire | 20 | 23.6 |
| Devon & Somerset | no data | 5.7 |
| Dorset | 14.1 | 13.8 |
| Durham | 17.2 | 21.4 |
| East Riding (Yorkshire) | 26 | 27.2 |
| East Sussex | 26.4 | 31.9 |
| Essex | 24.4 | 28.2 |
| Hampshire | 23.3 | 19.3 |
| Kent | 23.7 | 23.9 |
| Lancashire | 23.4 | 21.2 |
| Leicestershire | 23.7 | 24.1 |
| Lincolnshire | 21.2 | 24.1 |
| Norfolk | 32 | 33.7 |
| North Lincolnshire | 21.1 | 25.5 |
| North Yorkshire | 35.4 | 49 |
| Northamptonshire | 21 | 26.1 |
| Northumberland | 29.0 | 32.8 |
| Nottinghamshire | 28.2 | 30.1 |
| Shropshire | no data | 9.7 |
| South Gloucestershire | 16.8 | 19.4 |
| South Yorkshire | 21.0 | 24.5 |
| Staffordshire | 20.7 | 20.7 |
| Suffolk | 31.7 | 32.3 |
| Telford & Wrekin | 23 | 30.2 |
| Warwickshire | 34.9 | 37.8 |
| West Sussex | 23.9 | 26.8 |
| West Yorkshire | 16.5 | 20.7 |
| Wiltshire | 22.3 | 25.4 |
| Worcestershire | 27.5 | 33.1 |
| Devolved Administrations | ||
| Highlands and Islands | no data | no data |
| Northern Ireland | 17.6 | 20.3 |
| Rest of Scotland | no data | no data |
| Wales | no data | no data |
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, earlier phases of the roll-out were easier and faster to deploy, so you could expect to see a bit of a yo-yo movement with the take-up % sometimes falling if lots of new areas were suddenly covered. Some contracts are also younger than others and will thus take time to catch-up. However BDUK’s roll-out pace is slowing as it reaches tricky rural areas (Phase 2), which will give take-up a chance to climb.
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 awareness (locals don’t always know that the faster service exists) or interest in the new connectivity (if you have a decent ADSL2+ speed and only basic needs 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 fairly 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 Funding | Total Local Body Funding (Councils etc.) | Total Contracted Premises | Delivered to Date (Sep 2017) | |
| Bedford & Milton Keynes | £6,380,000 | £7,830,000 | 52,822 | 42,947 |
| Berkshire | £5,153,017 | £4,603,250 | 46,606 | 25,176 |
| Black Country | £3,780,000 | £3,780,000 | 40,011 | 34,663 |
| Bucks & Herts | £10,837,000 | £11,415,000 | 94,599 | 67,804 |
| Cambridgeshire | £8,250,000 | £17,750,000 | 105,850 | 98,862 |
| Cheshire | £6,461,000 | £16,091,293 | 82,468 | 75,751 |
| Cornwall | £5,960,000 | £12,529,786 | 15,288 | 5,390 |
| Cumbria | £19,959,519 | £18,798,000 | 120,065 | 113,846 |
| Derbyshire | £9,579,550 | £9,580,000 | 94,386 | 88,089 |
| Devon & Somerset | £57,510,245 | £39,187,538 | 344,835 | 284,144 |
| Dorset | £13,741,841 | £12,349,470 | 79,874 | 73,665 |
| Durham | £12,786,267 | £11,763,000 | 112,898 | 103,048 |
| East Riding (Yorkshire) | £10,507,459 | £5,193,079 | 49,510 | 47,035 |
| East Sussex | £13,640,000 | £17,000,000 | 62,818 | 60,045 |
| Essex | £13,299,000 | £13,299,000 | 150,423 | 96,061 |
| Greater Manchester | £3,440,000 | £5,923,000 | 41,363 | 39,286 |
| Hampshire | £15,262,307 | £14,180,000 | 106,434 | 74,869 |
| Herefordshire & Gloucestershire | £31,090,658 | £27,246,760 | 152,367 | 116,916 |
| Highlands & Islands | £50,830,000 | £75,600,000 | 138,861 | 137,560 |
| Isle of Wight | £2,490,000 | £2,490,000 | 17,617 | 17,649 |
| Kent | £17,063,509 | £14,998,391 | 141,088 | 132,263 |
| Lancashire | £14,670,000 | £22,540,000 | 147,333 | 140,395 |
| Leicestershire | £7,968,895 | £10,884,647 | 74,479 | 63,893 |
| Lincolnshire | £16,110,000 | £17,910,000 | 137,949 | 124,138 |
| Merseyside | £5,460,000 | £4,374,000 | 43,905 | 42,646 |
| Newcastle | £970,000 | £945,131 | 6,760 | 6,697 |
| Norfolk | £24,650,000 | £24,210,000 | 202,367 | 176,628 |
| North Lincolnshire | £4,181,242 | £1,880,963 | 29,442 | 27,929 |
| North Yorkshire | £28,160,000 | £14,654,726 | 175,283 | 165,581 |
| Northamptonshire | £9,856,669 | £11,009,000 | 80,182 | 69,302 |
| Northern Ireland | £11,453,615 | £21,953,615 | 66,912 | 50,130 |
| Northumberland | £10,687,867 | £11,986,750 | 49,620 | 45,659 |
| Nottinghamshire | £7,130,000 | £8,688,644 | 66,807 | 61,157 |
| Oxfordshire | £8,184,500 | £13,924,500 | 78,007 | 73,267 |
| Rest of Scotland | £50,000,000 | £107,575,000 | 572,563 | 520,002 |
| Rutland | £1,000,000 | £1,430,088 | 10,004 | 9,345 |
| Shropshire | £19,317,466 | £12,722,000 | 69,711 | 52,983 |
| South Gloucestershire | £3,370,000 | £3,521,123 | 21,616 | 16,636 |
| South Yorkshire | £9,845,000 | £10,155,000 | 95,664 | 61,098 |
| Staffordshire | £9,620,000 | £7,440,000 | 80,937 | 73,919 |
| Suffolk | £26,940,000 | £26,677,050 | 123,434 | 103,708 |
| Surrey | £1,310,000 | £19,020,081 | 76,958 | 71,183 |
| Swindon | £950,000 | £950,000 | 20,138 | 8,649 |
| Telford & Wrekin | £2,157,000 | £1,843,000 | 8,822 | 6,952 |
| Wales | £66,966,573 | £156,406,573 | 728,737 | 661,187 |
| Warwickshire | £15,007,144 | £15,007,144 | 74,301 | 48,981 |
| West Oxfordshire | £1,600,000 | £1,500,000 | 4,653 | 0 |
| West Sussex | £8,011,243 | £7,510,000 | 54,443 | 48,688 |
| West Yorkshire | £11,019,827 | £11,175,487 | 99,913 | 80,193 |
| Wiltshire | £9,270,000 | £16,496,000 | 83,543 | 69,759 |
| Worcestershire | £8,387,032 | £11,390,000 | 66,561 | 53,444 |
| £712,275,445 | £917,388,089 | 5,401,227 | 4,669,218 |
The above figures only include 24Mbps+ capable premises in BDUK intervention areas.
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 Linkedin.
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Nice to see the rest our nations get connected, obvs london isn’t on there because it already has massive amount of superfast/ultrafast connections already.
London is not on listed as it was specifically excluded from BDUK which means there are still a lot of people living there still without 24MB+ options and/or still on exchange only lines.
The Phase 2 take up rate in Devon & Somerset demonstrates the mess the Connecting Devon & Somerset programme got into after BT demanded the contract on an exclusive basis and were then not prepared to make the necessary investment. That created a 2 year delay with the consequence that CDS only approved the Phase 2 contracts in December 2017 (rather than completing the roll out in December 2017). The silver lining however is that 5 of the 6 contracts went to Gigaclear who are investing £44M of their own in the programme and will connect 80,000 properties with symmetric 1,000Mbps fibre by the end of 2020.
I’m envious of the Gigaclear roll-out schedule for Devon & Somerset – the contract was awarded a year after Fastershire’s phase 2 lots, but most of the Devon & Somerset build is due to be completed before most of Fastershire’s builds start.
Actually the Devon & Somerset Phase2 takeup figure is a reflection of the dire Dartmoor & Exmoor Airband contract
Over half of those 300 connections will be freebies for hosting a mast or providing power
Not sure the future of lot4 contact for west & north devon looks rosy!
BDUK Phase 2 installation has not even started here in West Devon.
Connecting Devon and Somerset who are running the BDUK program are totally and utterly useless, the masters of obfuscation. They have given the contract for 13,000 premises to Airband, together with £7m of subsidy.
Airband Community Internet Ltd only had £6,989 in the bank according to it latest published accounts. Make you own mind up.
11% of premises still can’t get 10 Mbps here according to Thinkbroadband, says it all..
Correction – I meant to say ‘BDUK Phase 2 end user installation..’
There are a whole herd of elephants in the room here, the most obvious being that:
– BT declares service by postcode area and by number of properties passed, not served. This means that many rural areas are no better off than they were before – it doesn’t matter if the fibre passes right past your house: if the cabinet is a km or more away, you’re out of luck.
– BT’s build is done on the basis of a 20% uptake, so as soon as demand in an area exceeds that, the cabinets are out of capacity.
– FTTC is range-limited: if you’re more than about 1.1km from a cabinet, you won’t get the ‘superfast’ speeds (30Mb/s) that the government predicates its figures on.
– FTTC is not upgradeable: technologies such as G.Fast and XG.Fast are smoke and mirrors services that might give a benefit to properties that practically sit atop the cabinet.