More Brits have access to 1Gbps speeds than those failing to muster 10Mbps – Ofcom report

Both stats still pretty piss poor

For the first time, the number of folk in the UK accessing speeds of 1Gbps is greater than those poor souls unable to get a meagre 10Mbps, according to an Ofcom report today.

Although neither of those statistics should be read as an especially encouraging sign.

The number of premises that cannot get 10Mbps fell by 150,000 from 1 million, as previously reported in its December Connected Nations report published before Christmas based on data captured last spring.

That figure has been falling steadily from 1.6 million (6 per cent) in May 2016 to 1.1 million (4 per cent) a year later and downwards to 925,000 (3 per cent) as of the latest data captured in January 2018.

"Nevertheless, there are still too many people in the UK who cannot get a decent broadband connection," the regulator said (PDF).

Ofcom has been tasked with overseeing the government's Universal Service Obligation, the industry-funded programme to hand everyone in Blighty the legal right to 10Mbps by 2020.

Meanwhile, the regulator said over one million homes (4 per cent) can now get full-fibre connections, up from 840,000 (3 per cent) premises in December.

In contrast Spain passed 17.5 million homes with full-fibre connections last year – while the government also injected €525m (£461m) to bring 300Mbps to the entire Spanish nation by 2021.

"While there has been progress in making superfast services available to over nine out of 10 properties, greater investment is needed to build full-fibre networks," noted Ofcom.

However, superfast coverage has continued to improve, with 93 per cent of premises (27.2 million) able to access 24Mbps, an increase of 89 per cent to 91 per cent in December.

So at least the majority of consumers can be confident in receiving neither particularly good nor especially bad broadband connections. Great. ®