Openreach See UK Broadband Traffic Grow 4.8 Percent in 2025 and Happy 20th Birthday
Network access provider Openreach (BT) has today revealed that broadband usage across their UK network increased by 4.8% in 2025 (down from 10.5% in 2024) to total 108,599 PetaBytes (PB) of data (up from 103,590PB), with December once again being the busiest month – 10,317PB of data was gobbled (up from 9,707PB last year).
The single busiest day of 2025 on Openreach’s network, which is harnessed by hundreds of broadband and phone providers across the country, occurred on 30th November 2025 as a massive Fortnite (video game) update was released to gamers. Users gobbled a total of 388PB on this day. Peak daily hours across their network tend to still be between 8pm to 10pm.
Naturally, the ever-increasing coverage of Openreach’s new multi-Gigabit speed capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband network is playing a major role here. The operator states that data usage on their full fibre network “exploded” by 40% last year, overtaking older fixed broadband technologies (ADSL, FTTC etc.) in late October.
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The average Full Fibre customer on their network is currently said to be chewing through 22.1GB a day. Just for some added context, Ofcom recently revealed that the average monthly data usage per connection is now 583GB (GigaBytes) across “all technologies” (up from 531GB), which rises to an average of 738GB for full-fibre connections (oddly this is down a bit from 766GB); roughly in line with Openreach’s experience.
The reason why Openreach has put all this out on a Sunday is because today (11th January 2026) also represents the operator’s 20th Birthday. In 2006, BT created Openreach as a then “functionally separate” division within the group, prompted by Ofcom’s market review to ensure fair access to BT’s network for all communications providers. The regulator would later return in 2016 to turn functional separation into legal separation (here).
Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said:
“As we celebrate 20 years of Openreach, this is a historic moment for UK broadband. In two decades, we’ve gone from dial-up speeds to building the nation’s digital backbone – and today, Full Fibre is the network of choice for millions.
People are upgrading for speed they can rely on, connections that don’t drop out, and the capacity to support everything from remote work to smart homes.
This progress is thanks to our engineers – past and present – whose skill, dedication, and problem solving have connected communities in every corner of the UK. Their work has brought the benefits of better broadband to homes and businesses, and this milestone shows how far we’ve come and how ready we are for the future.
Whether you’re streaming, gaming, or running a business from home, Full Fibre gives you the performance you need, not just for today but for whatever comes next. My message to everyone is simple: upgrade to Openreach Full Fibre.”
Back in 2006 the UK was already well into the process of moving from dial-up to ADSL based copper (inc. aluminium) broadband lines at speeds of “up to” 8Mbps. But today around 8 million UK homes and businesses use Openreach’s Full Fibre, with 21 million premises able to connect (rising to 25m by Dec 2026 and then possibly 30m by 2030). Speeds of up to 1.8Gbps are possible and set to reach 8.5Gbps in a forthcoming pilot (here and here).
Some Key Openreach Dates since 2006
- 2006: The creation of Openreach and open market – to make sure all communications providers could access its network fairly.
- 2006: ADSL (not VDSL) still predominantly used. Up to 8Mbps ADSL, then Up to 24Mbps ADSL2+
- 2008: First FTTP deployment in Kent; major investment announced.
- 2009: Trials of Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) began. Up to 40Mbps VDSL2
- 2011: 5 million premises able to order fibre to the cabinet broadband. Up to 80Mbps VDSL2 from 2012 – BT Makes its 80Mbps Superfast FTTC Broadband Upgrade Available to ISPs – ISPreview UK
- 2017: Openreach became a wholly owned subsidiary of BT and legally separate company, with its own staff, management, purpose and strategy.
- 2017: Openreach announces Fibre First investment. Up to 330Mbps GPON
- 2019: Openreach launch 500Mbps and 1Gbps – GPON – Openreach Prices New UK Consumer 550Mbps and 1Gbps FTTP Tiers – ISPreview UK
- 2020: Openreach completes first Full Fibre city (Salisbury).
- 2024: Openreach launch 1.8Gbps – GPON – Openreach Confirm UK Launch of 1.8Gbps and 1.2Gbps FTTP Tiers UPDATE – ISPreview UK
- 2025: Openreach hits 20 million milestone footprint for full fibre
- 2026: 25 million milestone (in progress)
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, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Many thanks to Openreach & Aquiss ISP for my wonderful full fibre went live on the 9th January 2026. Installed ONT – Zyxel PM5313-00 the latest 2.5G Wan and Lan ports model from Openreach.
https://www.speedtest.net/result/18700449039
Very pleased and so happy now 🙂
Next milestone will be at the end of March if they reach 22 million premises passed which will mean 2/3 of UK properties will be covered (33 million UK premises total seems to be the generally accepted figure).
There are over 200,000 new homes built each year, so it’s a moving target.
True but as nearly all of them will be built with FTTP (either Openreach or altnet such as OFNL) from the start so they won’t be a drag on the stats.
Good you have got it sorted Phil, good speed for 1Gig. 🙂 Not everyone needs symmetric, off course some will.
Open reach must’ve existed more than that!
Dial up and normal landlines existed before that?
No it was an integrated part of BT/GPO telephones. It has only existed as a separate entity since 2006.
upgraded to FTTP as soon as it became available in December got install done a week before Christmas, best Christmas present ever. Hope Openreach keeps going as tried an alt-net that was available from July and that went to hell after 2 weeks.
Shame we dont get nothing for 20 years service
Joined in 2006, so 20 years for me in March!
‘dont get nothing’ What something do you get?
Presumably they pay you a salary?
what was the argument for making BT and Openreach legally separate, but not separate companies?
Openreach is a separate company, owned by BT.
Dividing up the assets and deciding how to split the pension liabilities was too hard to do. How do you decide if Bob Smith who retired in 1992 should have the gap in his pension funding covered?
There would have been rooms in operational buildings that belonged to BT and some that belonged to Openreach.
And even if you sorted that all out – BT would have been by far Openreach’s biggest customer. Succesful companies meet the demands of their customers.
Open Reach have left us with a very shoddy installation to have this rectified they want to charge us a minimum one hundred andfifty pounds been with BT forever
That discussion should be with your service provider – they are Openreach’s customer, not you. If a poor job has been done, your complaint is with your ISP.