Full Fibre Broadband Coverage of UK New Build Homes Hits 77.8%

A new analysis of broadband coverage in the UK has indicated that 77.8% of new build homes constructed across the whole of 2019 so far were connected to a “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband ISP network (up from 70.5% in 2018), which rises to 94% for “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) coverage (up from 93% last year).

The situation, as highlighted by the latest independent data from Thinkbroadband (examination of new build postcodes), is clearly improving but there remains a natural time lag between recent policy / legislative changes and their implementation, which is one of several reasons why we’re not yet at 100% coverage of new builds with full fibre.

So far most of the major home builders (e.g. Home Builders Federation) have already entered into partnerships with operators (BT and Virgin Media etc.) to better facilitate the roll-out of full fibre and slower hybrid fibre (FTTC / HFC DOCSIS) based broadband technologies. At the same time Openreach recently made it cheaper to deploy their FTTP network into some of the smallest developments (here).

Meanwhile the UK government have long been advising councils to ensure that they factor at least superfast broadband into local planning approvals for new build developments. However such things often take years to have an impact, which is because planning permission tends to be granted a long time before the work itself actually begins and then the build phase can take years.

On top of that some property developers still say that deploying fibre broadband services can in some areas be prohibitively expensive (e.g. rural locations). Not that this has prevented many of those same companies from raking in big annual profits. Nevertheless more and more new homes are arriving with superfast and / or full fibre availability as standard.

New Build Broadband Cover by Speed and Technology (H1 2019 Data)

NOTE 1: The ultrafast figure above predominantly reflects coverage by FTTP/H, HFC DOCSIS (Cable) and possibly some G.fast based networks; mostly delivered via Openreach (BT) and Virgin Media. Meanwhile Hyperoptic, Community Fibre, GTC / OFNL and a few other altnets will also have an impact.

NOTE 2: Some small / individual developments (e.g. personal single house projects) or property conversions may be missed by this data.

NOTE 3: The figures may change by the next update as related data is frequently being revised / updated.

We should point out that last year’s Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR) proposed a couple of big changes in this area, not least of which was a plan to mandate Gigabit capable broadband connections for new build homes and making it easier for network operators to access buildings where landlords fail to respond (details in our Budget 2018 news).

Sadly we’re still waiting for the related consultations on the aforementioned policy proposals to reach an outcome. The focus on Brexit (inc. all the related political upheaval) and the difficulty of introducing such measures into new builds and existing buildings via legislation seems likely to be impeding progress.

In time the problems highlighted in this article should resolve themselves but for now a gap will continue to exist and that may be more noticeable in remote rural areas. In the meantime if you’re buying a new build home then make sure to get what you expect to receive for broadband confirmed in writing BEFORE parting with your savings (sales people have often mislead purchasers).