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Telecoms giant Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) has today released their 2025 Year in Review to explore how Brits lived online in 2025, which reveals “record levels” of data consumption including an 8% rise in broadband usage (down from 8.1% in 2024) and an 18% rise in mobile traffic through the year (up from 9%) – driven by growing use of AI, live sports and major game releases.
The biggest spikes in broadband usage were typically driven by football and gaming releases, with Liverpool’s win against Real Madrid and the release of Call of Duty Black Ops 7 coming out on top. The Celebrity Traitors TV show also appeared to create a cultural moment of its own, as Thursday broadband spikes revealed Brits bundled episodes to watch together (no data was provided to substantiate this).
In terms of the survey data, VMO2 claims that more than half of Brits (58%) say that they began the year with a plan to reduce the time they spent on their phone, but data shows it was another record-breaking year for mobile data usage, which was up 18%. Despite their intentions, many people admit that they used their phone more frequently to stay in touch with friends and family (55%), scroll on social media (44%), and use AI tools (41%).
Brits’ use of AI is also said to have become “increasingly normalised“, with 47% agreeing that it is totally accepted in most areas of life now. People are now turning to it for practical support, using it to find medical advice (31%), for recipes and cooking (30%), financial advice (27%), and even to help them navigate online dating (20%).
Office attendance remained steady in 2025, with insights from O2 Motion, which uses anonymised and aggregated data from O2’s mobile network, showing commuter levels down just 1% from 2024. Despite this, there is clear evidence of a generational divide, with early career workers returning in greater numbers while mid-and-late career groups continue to step back.
Tuesday remains the most popular day for workers to head to the office, with Wednesday leapfrogging Thursday as the second busiest. O2 Motion data shows that Friday is the most popular day for Brits to work from home, which is no surprise as broadband data reveals a drop in traffic on Friday afternoons during the summer months, as many remote workers clock off early.
In a year that saw more than 20 days of strikes across Britain’s travel network, some 75% of people were affected by travel disruptions. During September’s London Tube strike, O2 Motion data found that footfall across the capital was down 16%. For those that did brave the commute, 30% walked to work, 24% drove, and 9% jumped on a rental e-bike.
Jeanie York, CTO of VMO2, said:
“It was another record-breaking year across our mobile and fixed networks, as our customers continue to use more data than ever before. It’s clear that this demand has been driven by the continued excitement surrounding gaming and sports, with several significant game releases and many exciting Champions League matches causing large spikes across our networks. We are investing and innovating to ensure we continue to provide the connectivity that is underpinning the lives of our customers, including AI which customers are using more than ever before.”
Sadly, VMO2’s report is extremely limited and lacks much concrete data, while the methodology and sample size for their consumer survey was not disclosed in the announcement. Take with a pinch of salt.