Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile network operator Vodafone UK has today introduced Screen Damage Insurance, which costs “from” as little as £2 per month and enables new and existing customers to “protect one of the most important parts of their phone” with manufacturer approved parts and flexible repair options.

The new ‘Screen Damage Insurance’ feature is available alongside existing ‘Accidental Damage & Breakdown’ cover, as well as ‘Loss, Theft, Accidental Damage & Breakdown’ cover for Vodafone customers. But it’s only available on selected devices and the excess for each successful claim ranges from £25 to £150, depending on your device.

Customers who take this service will also be given the choice to upgrade to ‘Express Repair’ for a one-off fee of £50, which will enable them to get their phone back as quickly as the very next day (repairs take up to 5 days as standard – excludes weekends and UK bank holidays).

Vodafone said they would aim for next day delivery after a successful claim has been accepted. Devices must also be in full working order and should be as new or reconditioned from a manufacturer, network provider, or retail store (high street or online). You must be able to provide proof of purchase upon request. You can make up to 3 claims in any 12-month period.

You must also be a permanent UK resident, over the age of 18 and the account owner of either a Vodafone Pay monthly or Vodafone EVO plan to purchase this insurance. We should point out that some other mobile operators also offer insurance for damaged screens (inc. repairs), such as Three UK and EE, although prices and policy details do vary quite a bit.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the global industry body dedicated to driving the seamless and interoperable service experience of Wi-Fi across the global wireless ecosystem, has today announced the results of Wi-Fi 7 industry trials in Enterprise Scenarios, conducted in collaboration with AT&T, CommScope (RUCKUS Networks), and Intel. The trials, designed to evaluate Wi-Fi 7’s real-world performance, demonstrated significant improvements in throughput, efficiency and latency, highlighting Wi-Fi 7’s ability to support mission-critical enterprise applications such as XR, AI, cloud computing, and industrial IoT.

 

The WBA Wi-Fi 7 trials focused on assessing rate vs. range performance in enterprise settings, comparing Wi-Fi 7 with Wi-Fi 6E across the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands. The tests which were conducted in live enterprise environments, revealed that Wi-Fi 7 delivers:

 

• Nearly double the throughput of Wi-Fi 6E at 5 GHz using 40 MHz channels
• Sustained 1 Gbps+ throughput up to 40 feet away from the access point (AP) in the 6 GHz band with 160 MHz channels
• Lower latency and improved efficiency, supporting next-gen applications such as AR/VR, video conferencing, and automation
• Greater network reliability, helping enterprises manage high-density environments with thousands of connected devices

 

Downlink of 2 Gbps and reduced congestion with MLO

The trials assessed Wi-Fi 7’s capabilities in both controlled and real-world enterprise environments, focusing on throughput, latency, and signal range across different frequencies and channel widths. At 6 GHz with 160 MHz channels, Wi-Fi 7 achieved nearly 2 Gbps downlink throughput at close range, maintaining over 1 Gbps up to 40 feet away. In high-density enterprise settings, where APs must support thousands of simultaneous connections, Wi-Fi 7’s enhanced spectral efficiency and Multi-Link Operation (MLO) provided more stable, reliable connectivity, mitigating network congestion even in heavily loaded conditions.

 

Addressing enterprise connectivity challenges for new and legacy devices

These findings demonstrate Wi-Fi 7’s ability to address key connectivity challenges in smart offices, manufacturing, healthcare, and immersive digital environments. Enterprises that rely on real-time collaboration, video conferencing, AI-driven automation, and AR/VR applications will benefit from Wi-Fi 7’s lower latency and higher throughput, ensuring seamless user experiences without performance bottlenecks. The trials also confirmed that Wi-Fi 7 delivers significant improvements in 5 GHz networks, where many legacy devices still operate, ensuring backward compatibility and an easier transition for enterprises upgrading their infrastructure.

 

While This trial focused on 160 MHz channels in the 6 GHz band which would be typical for high-density commercial Wi-Fi 7 network deployments requiring many access points. However, most of today’s Wi-Fi 7 devices also support 320 MHz channels which would be more common for smaller networks, and enable even higher levels of performance for hybrid work and consumer experiences as documented in our recent WBA Wi-Fi 7 Trial report for residential settings.

 

Tiago Rodrigues, President and CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, said:
“Wi-Fi 7 is not just an evolution, it’s a game changer for enterprise connectivity. These trials prove that Wi-Fi 7 offers real-world improvements in speed, reliability, and efficiency that businesses need to support the next generation of applications. As adoption accelerates, enterprises will see tangible benefits in everything from hybrid work and immersive experiences to AI-driven automation. The WBA is committed to ensuring the industry has the data and insights needed to maximize Wi-Fi 7’s potential.”

 

JR Wilson, VP, Tower Strategy & Roaming at AT&T, commented:
“Enterprises are demanding more from their Wi-Fi networks than ever before. These trials confirm that Wi-Fi 7 can deliver the high-performance, low-latency connectivity required for modern digital environments. At AT&T, we see Wi-Fi 7 as a key enabler for businesses looking to optimize their operations and embrace the future of connectivity.”

 

Mittal Parekh, Senior Director, Business Development RUCKUS Networks at CommScope, added:
“Wi-Fi 7 introduces groundbreaking features like Multi-Link Operation (MLO) and 4K QAM, which significantly enhance network efficiency and throughput. Our participation in these trials has demonstrated how enterprises can leverage these advancements to enable the most demanding applications in the most challenging environment in a variety of industry verticals.”

 

Eric A. McLaughlin, VP & GM Connectivity Solutions Group, Intel Corporation, stated:
“6 GHz Wi-Fi 7 marks a major leap forward in wireless technology, and the results of our collaboration in these trials reinforce its real-world benefits. Business PC users can enjoy enhanced productivity and collaboration experiences in the office or in hybrid work scenarios as 160 MHz channel use scales broadly across corporate networks and 320 MHz channels become mainstream at home. With improved spectrum utilization and dramatic performance improvements, the findings of the trial help underscore Wi-Fi 7’s ability to meet the needs of next-gen applications in enterprise, industrial, and residential settings.”

 

Driving Wi-Fi 7 adoption

Following these successful trials, the WBA will continue to collaborate with industry leaders to accelerate Wi-Fi 7 adoption, refine implementation strategies, and support enterprises in leveraging Wi-Fi 7’s full potential.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

London, UK, 8^th May 2025 – The UK’s leading dedicated B2B network provider, Neos Networks, has today announced the launch of its new rapid activation proposition, enabling customers to order and use high-capacity optical connectivity in just five to ten days.

The new proposition is powered by Neos’ recently re-architected network, including its first “super region” – a high-demand zone spanning London and the South East, connecting 131 exchanges and five key data centres with fully digitised, pre-provisioned infrastructure. The first step in a strategic roll-out of interconnected regions nationwide, the new capability radically shortens the lead times typically associated with optical services, which have historically been over 30 business days.

The launch is specifically designed to support ISPs, Altnets and aggregators, who often face time-sensitive pressures to scale rapidly or respond to emerging demand. Whether it’s extending backhaul for regional expansion, managing AI-driven data growth, or responding to enterprise customers’ evolving connectivity needs, the rapid activation proposition is built to support dynamic scaling needs.

Mark Charlesworth, Director of Product, Digital and Pre-Sales at Neos Networks, said: “We’ve engineered our network to reflect what the market has been calling for – faster, smarter connectivity that doesn’t rely on manual processes. Our rapid activation proposition is a direct result of listening to our customer needs and providing the high quality and reliable services they expect from Neos. But this isn’t just speed for speed’s sake, we’re building super regions that give customers instant access to the connectivity they need, where and when they need it, with the transparency and reliability to match. This is an important foundational step that will underpin further rollouts across our network.”

Although, rapid delivery is not new to the industry, Neos’ LIVEQUOTE platform shows in real-time where rapid activation is available, giving customers full transparency and control. With automated contracting, precise inventory management, and end-to-end API integration, Neos’ digital-first approach ensures not just speed, but repeatability and trust at scale.

This latest proposition is part of Neos’ broader customer-first approach, focused on reducing friction in service delivery, enhancing scalability, and supporting the UK’s digital infrastructure as connectivity becomes an increasingly important pillar of its digital ambitions.

 

ENDS

 

About Neos Networks

Neos Networks has the UK’s largest business-dedicated network. With over 600 points of presence and 90 data centres nationwide, Neos provides high-capacity critical connectivity for businesses, from telecoms and energy to banking and emergency services.

Agile and customer-focused with almost limitless scale, Neos enables emerging technologies like AI, 5G and IoT, making connectivity work for Britain. 

For more information please visit: https://neosnetworks.com

 

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

NEW YORK and MIAMI, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Lightpath, an all-fiber infrastructure-based connectivity provider that is revolutionizing how organizations connect to their digital destinations, announces a significant expansion of its Miami network to the Hollywood Cable Landing Station located at 460 NE 215^th Street, Miami, in partnership with a strategic anchor customer. Lightpath will offer diverse, high-capacity connectivity options to the landing station, including dark fiber and wavelength services up to 800 Gbps.

The expansion will be completed in late 2025 and will bring Lightpath’s AI-grade fiber infrastructure to over 80-route miles in the Miami metro area. The company’s Miami network is 100% underground and connects to 12 critical area data centers, offering a full suite of connectivity services, including dark fiber and wavelength services up to 800 Gbps. 

“This latest expansion to a Miami cable landing station demonstrates Lightpath’s continued commitment to, and investment in, the Miami region,” explained Tim Haverkate, EVP Major Infrastructure Solutions, Lightpath. “Lightpath offers additional capabilities, including a willingness to build, to area customers in a market that has traditionally seen underinvestment in digital infrastructure. We will continue to invest in Miami and South Florida to meet customer demand for connectivity to data centers, cable landing stations, and other digital destinations.”

Across its entire footprint, Lightpath connects to over 170 data centers and 7 additional cable landing stations in the New York and New Jersey area. The company offers customized, high-capacity connectivity solutions to all these facilities, including dark fiber and wavelengths up to 800 Gbps.   

“Lightpath continues to partner with the largest consumers of bandwidth to design, build, and deliver fiber infrastructure for AI-grade networks that are purpose-built to support the next generation of connectivity requirements driven by AI and Cloud technologies,” stated Chris Morley, CEO of Lightpath. “Lightpath continues to be laser focused on delivering large-scale, massive capacity networks that are complex and capital intensive, across multiple US geographies, both in large metro markets as well as unique regional inter-city routes.

Follow Lightpath on LinkedIn. For more information, visit lightpathfiber.com.

About Lightpath

Lightpath is revolutionizing how customers connect to their digital destinations by combining our next-generation network with our next-generation customer service. Lightpath’s advanced fiber-optic network offers a comprehensive portfolio of custom-engineered connectivity solutions with unparalleled performance, reliability, and security. Our consultative customer service means we work with you to design, deliver, and support the solution for your unique needs, faster and more easily than ever before. For over 30 years, thousands of enterprises, governments, and educators have trusted Lightpath to power their organization’s innovation. Lightpath is jointly owned by Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.

For media inquiries:
JSA for Lightpath
1-866-695-3629
jsa_lightpath@jsa.net

SOURCE Lightpath

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Cifas, the UK’s leading fraud prevention service, has today raised the alarm on SIM swap fraud, with cases surging by 1,055% in 2024. The stark warning comes as part of the organisation’s annual Fraudscape report, which paints a grim picture of escalating threats across the mobile and telecoms sectors.

Nearly 3,000 cases of unauthorised SIM swaps – where criminals hijack a victim’s mobile number by porting it to a new SIM without their consent – were filed to the National Fraud Database (NFD) in 2024, impacting multiple telecoms providers. Once in control of a victim’s number, criminals intercept calls and messages, including crucial two-factor authentication codes, enabling further fraudulent activity to take place, such as account takeovers for apps and other forms of identity theft.

The latest Fraudscape report reveals that in 2024, a record-breaking 421,000-plus cases were filed to the NFD – the UK’s largest and most comprehensive database of fraud risk data and intelligence. The telecoms sector has emerged as a primary target, with identity fraud linked to mobile products up 87%, reflecting a surge of more than 16,000 cases.

In addition, facility takeover fraud – where criminals take control of an individual’s accounts – soared by 76%, with telecoms and online retail the most affected sectors. Notably, 48% of all account takeover cases in 2024 involved mobile phone accounts. Filings concerning unauthorised mobile upgrades rose by 96%.

Older consumers remain a target. Those aged 61-and-over now make up 29% of all account takeover cases, with filings about this demographic rising by 90% year-on-year.

Simon Miller, Director of Policy, Strategy, and Communications at Cifas, said: “Our latest figures underscore the urgent need for collaboration and the sharing of data and intelligence across sectors to tackle fraud.

“In the mobile and telecoms sector, criminals are exploiting vulnerabilities in the system to assume control of people’s mobile identities – with devastating consequences.

“At Cifas, we enable our members across all sectors – including telecoms, banking, retail and insurance – to share crucial information, helping prevent over £2.1 billion in losses last year alone. Together, we can outpace the criminals.”

Cifas urges consumers to be vigilant; monitor mobile accounts for unexpected changes and look out for notifications recommending security PINs or passwords from their telco providers. Businesses, meanwhile, should adopt stronger identity verification methods and continue sharing threat intelligence across industries.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

Carnival Internet UK, a new broadband provider, has launched in the UK, aiming to disrupt the telecoms industry with a focus on fairness, sustainability, and cutting-edge technology. 

 

Promising ultra-reliable, full-fibre broadband without hidden fees, or mid-contract, annual price increases, Carnival Internet UK also pledges to reward customer loyalty in unique ways, contribute to environmental efforts, and do its bit to help tackle digital poverty across the country.

 

The service guarantees that all customers, new or existing, pay the same rate for the same package, with a choice of two different routers and speed options ranging from 100Mbps to 900Mbps speeds at the initial launch. This breaks from the long-standing telecoms practice known as “loyalty tax,” where long-term customers end up paying significantly more than new ones for exactly the same service.

 

Designed for busy families and professionals, Carnival Internet UK delivers consistent, high-speed connections using eero’s mesh Wi-Fi routers that incorporate TrueMesh, TrueRoam and TrueChannel. Carnival’s ‘Max’ plans, include eero’s fastest, most powerful router yet that supports the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard – the eero Max 7.

 

Customers will also benefit from eero Plus for advanced, inbuilt security features as standard, including content filtering, malware and ad blocking, and internet scheduling tools to ensure a safer and more controlled online experience, keeping families safer online.

 

The company offers the now-industry standard One Touch Switching process and provides a hassle-free setup to remove the common pain points often associated with switching providers. 

 

“We believe the broadband industry has long neglected its responsibility to loyal customers and the planet,” said Olly Sedden, Director of Product, Commercial and Marketing at Dotlines UK, the company behind Carnival Internet UK. “Carnival Internet’s launch comes at a time when the industry is under scrutiny for rising prices and poor service. By combining sustainability, fairness, and high-performance technology, we hope to lead by example and reshape how broadband providers operate in the UK. Our goal is to build a happy customer community by delivering brilliant, highly automated, and effortless customer experiences – putting people and the planet first.”

 

Carnival Internet UK pledges to plant one tree or kelp plant for every month a customer stays with them, with a target of planting one million in its first five years. Partnering with Carma, a specialist in sustainable biodiversity and reforestation projects, the company will ensure every contribution is trackable through its online dashboard, ensuring full transparency and a clear stand against greenwashing.

 

In addition, 1% of all customer bills will be donated to UK charities working to combat digital poverty. 

 

Olly continued: “We are dedicated to leading the way in sustainable and socially responsible business practices. Our commitment to rewarding customer loyalty, fighting digital poverty and investing in biodiversity projects reflects our belief that companies must do more than just provide great services; they must give back to the customers, communities and the planet they serve. At Carnival Internet UK, we’re determined to make a positive impact while delivering the best broadband experience possible.”

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Mobile operator Three UK has notified the remaining customers still on their old Relish Wireless (Three Broadband) service in Swindon (Wiltshire, England), which was originally acquired from UK Broadband Limited in 2017 (here), that it is finally due to be retired by the end of May 2025. But the news came as a surprise to some users.

At present only a tiny number of customers (Three UK puts the figure at 43) continue to use the old 4G based fixed wireless service. But some of those were recently taken by surprise when the operator emailed them at the start of this week to say that “due to technical changes your current Home Broadband service will now end on 19th May 2025“.

Three claims to have previously emailed customers to notify them of their intention to close the service in May 2025, although the user we spoke to (Paul) said they had not received the prior communication and have thus been given just two weeks’ notice. The latest email also contained no guidance with respect to any alternative service options or promotions, which Three told ISPreview do exist.

We note that Relish/Three have never increased their monthly charge for the service in Swindon, which is still priced at £25 per month for a 30Mbps+ internet connection.

Three’s Customer Email (6th May 2025)

Hi,

We have previously contacted you about your current broadband service ending in May. Due to technical changes your current Home Broadband service will now end on 19 May 2025. Prior to this date you will notice loss of service from approximately, 13-15 May 2025 due to a power outage.

Providing a great service to our customers is important to us, so we would like to apologise in advance and acknowledge that this unavoidable situation isn’t ideal.

If you wish to disconnect your Home Broadband service now with no termination charges, or have any questions, please contact us on 0330 686 6003.

If no action is taken, your service will be lost once the technical changes are made.

Regards,

Customer Care Team

Three Broadband

However, when queried, Three apologised for the “inconvenience” of their closure and informed Paul, who has been using the service since 2016, that he did have the “option to cancel this service with immediate effect and move to our parent company Three UK“. But the operator continued to provide no details on what alternatives exist and any special offers.

Three has since confirmed to ISPreview that the retirement is part of their transition to 5G and they will be upgrading the majority of affected customers to an enhanced 5G service, which is probably something they could have made a bit clearer in their email. The full transition is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

During any transition period there can be disruption to services, and to compensate for this, Three UK said it had pledged 3 months free broadband and offered to install a new antenna. None of that was mentioned in the two emails we saw from the operator.

Finally, Three said they had engaged with the Swindon Borough Council to ensure local support and minimise any disruption, while the UK government has also been made aware of the transition. The latter is probably because the original wireless network was partly installed using public investment via the Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency.

A quick look at the 5G powered unlimited Three Home Broadband package on the operator’s website shows that it’s currently priced at just £19 per month on a 24-month term, albeit rising to £21 from Apr 2026 and then £23 from April 2027. This includes an Outdoor Hub and “average download speeds of 150Mbps“, albeit alongside a 30-day money-back guarantee.

One possible catch above is that the service was listed as unavailable for a number of the postcodes we tested in Swindon (e.g. you could get it in SN3 3TQ, but not SN1 4HR or SN1 2AN), thus local availability may be sporadic.

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

The TalkTalk Group has confirmed to ISPreview that some 95,000 customers of ISP Origin Broadband, which is a trading name for Origin Communications and OB Telecom (owned by TalkTalk), are being transferred to Utility Warehouse (UW / Telecom Plus) as part of a recently agreed partnership.

At present UW already offers a variety of broadband services, which have long been powered by TalkTalk’s (PXC) network in the UK. Similarly, Origin Broadband was previously an independent provider, although a few years back they fell into financial difficulty and in 2021 the company’s ownership ended up being transferred to OB Telecom Limited (here), which is controlled by TalkTalk.

Suffice to say that Origin has been fairly quiet since then and later stopped taking on new customers, although toward the end of last year they did “carry out a small-scale sales trial” that briefly saw them attempt to take on some new subscribers (here). But this soon ended, leaving some uncertainty over the fate of Origin’s brand and remaining customer base.

At the same time the TalkTalk Group has also been dealing with its own wider challenges, which last year saw them accept a crucial refinancing package worth roughly £400m (here and here). This saved the group from the immediate risk of a default on its debts (i.e. extended debt maturities to September 2027), but still left them with the challenge of needing to fix their foundations.

Back to Origin and several sources recently began informing ISPreview that the provider’s customer base was being transferred to UW, which is a change that is also mentioned on their website (here). The related FAQ page states: “Origin has made the difficult decision to exit the telecoms market and Utility Warehouse (UW) has been selected to service their existing home phone and broadband customers.”

A TalkTalk Spokesperson told ISPreview:

“TalkTalk and Utility Warehouse (UW) have enjoyed a long-standing partnership. As announced by UW recently, TalkTalk has agreed a partnership under which approximately 95,000 Origin customers will be transferred to UW. Impacted customers will be contacted ahead of migration. No decision has been taken on the future of the Origin brand.”

The move may provide a small financial benefit to the group (details of the deal have not been released), while at the same time keeping impacted customers on the same network platform. The transition is thus also expected to be “seamless” and should go without disruption, although large customer migrations sometimes do still throw up the odd issue.

Original article Total Telecom:Read More

News

The platform launches with an initial partnership with CityFibre, with Trooli and Freedom Fibre to follow in the coming months

This week, Rochdale-based ISP Zen Internet has celebrated the formal launch of The Fibre Hub, a platform that aggregates altnets and major network players.

The idea behind The Fibre Hub is simple enough: combine access to numerous altnets onto a single platform, which ISPs can then access at a wholesale level. This means ISPs will only need to integrate once – with The Fibre Hub – to gain access to numerous altnet networks, greatly reducing complexity.

The initial launch was centred around the integration of CityFibre onto the platform, making CityFibre’s Business FTTP (160 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps) and Residential FTTP (1 Gbps to 2.5 Gbps) available to channel partners alongside existing Openreach access.

Similar deals with Trooli and Freedom Fibre have also been announced, with their networks expected to be made available on the platform in June and July, respectively.

Two additional altnets are “very close” to being formally announced, according to Zen CEO Richard Tang.

“My hope is that the big players – the likes of Vodafone and Sky – will eventually want interconnect with Zen to get access to these smaller networks,” said Tang, speaking to Total Telecom at Connected North last month, adding that initial discussions with the companies were already underway.

According to Tang, achieving a “critical mass” of around “around one million premises” that are not already covered by the likes of Openreach or CityFibre would be enough to make the business case appealing to these major ISPs.

“With Trooli, Freedom Fibre, and the two new partners we’re bringing on board, that’s a very achievable goal,” Tang said.

Speaking more broadly, Tang explained that the highly competitive nature of the fibre market – which has not consolidated as fast as anticipated – had created a major opportunity for aggregation.

“Market consolidation is not really coming along as fast as everyone thinks,” he said. “I think one factor is that investors don’t necessarily want to admit that their business plans have fallen over and selling will crystalise those losses.”

“It’s also just really, really complicated,” he continued. “How do you value an altnet? The market is constantly moving, with overbuild taking place and take-up rates changing quite rapidly. By the time you’ve completed your due diligence for a deal, the networks value might be completely different.”

These inherent complications to M&A could make aggregation an appealing alterative to acquisition for smaller altnets.

“It creates a good opportunity for Zen. If the consolidation takes a bit longer then the window of value that we can provide by aggregating a lot of them together is bigger,” said Tang.

Join the telecoms ecosystem in discussion at Connected Britain 2025, the UK’s leading digital economy event

Also in the news:
Germany appoints first ever digital minister
Signify and Cornerstone to deploy city-wide multi-operator wireless network through street lighting
BT opens new flagship Manchester office

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Ofcom has today published its Spring 2025 update on UK fixed broadband and mobile coverage, which reveals that “full fibre” (FTTP) lines now reach 74% of homes (up from 69% in July 2024), while 86% are within reach of a gigabit network (up from 83%) and 62-85% of premises can get an outdoor 5G signal (up from 61-79%).

The regulator’s latest report is based on coverage and service availability information that has been received from both fixed line ISPs and mobile network operators as of January 2025, which is several months more recent than the July 2024 data used in their last update.

Overall, the UK’s coverage of fixed “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) remains unchanged at 98%, while 23.68 million premises (74% of homes) can now order a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) service via various networks (up from 69%). Meanwhile, gigabit-capable broadband (1Gbps+) services are now available to 86% of UK homes or 27.24 million premises (up from 83%).

The above figure for gigabit coverage is higher than the FTTP figure because a lot of recent gigabit connectivity has also flowed from Virgin Media’s upgrade to their existing Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) network via DOCSIS 3.1 technology – there’s a lot of overbuild between HFC and FTTP in dense urban areas. Ofcom also splits their “premises” (inc. business) and “homes” figures on fixed lines, which can be a bit confusing (gigabit cover is 84% if you look at all premises).

All of this work will help to support the UK Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit programme, which aims to further improve the picture for gigabit speed connectivity by using state aid to target connectivity improvements toward the final 10-20% of hardest to reach premises (i.e. helping to extend gigabit coverage “nationwide” or c.99% by 2030).

However, the number of premises that cannot get a “decent broadband” (10Mbps+) service – when you include delivery via wireless connections (i.e. 4G, 5G and fixed wireless access) – is currently 48,000 (0.1% of the UK), which is down from 58,000 at the last update. The download speed of 10Mbps (1Mbps upload) also represents the core specification for the UK’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband.

As for mobile networks, 4G has seen geographic coverage across all network operators (EE, Three UK, O2 and Vodafone) rise slightly to 88-90% (up from 88-89%). The new £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) agreement should be starting to improve this, but it’s a very slow burn. As for 5G, some 62-85% of UK premises can now get outdoor coverage (up from 61-79%), which falls to just 22-44% when looking at outdoor coverage by all operators combined (up from 19-38%). Suffice to say, there’s still plenty of work to do.

Spring 2025 Coverage Data by Region

The following table summarises the latest mobile and fixed broadband coverage figures for Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland individually, although you can get a bit more detail by checking the full Spring 2025 Update.

UK Fixed Broadband Coverage (Residential)

Access to full fibre	Sep-23	Jan-24	Jul-24	Jan-25
UK	57%	62%	69%	74%
England	56%	62%	69%	75%
Northern Ireland	91%	92%	93%	94%
Scotland	53%	58%	62%	67%
Wales	55%	61%	68%	74%

 

Take-up of full-fibre services as a percentage of premises with access to full fibre	May-23	Jul-24	Jan-25
UK	28%	35%	38%
England	27%	33%	37%
Northern Ireland	39%	53%	58%
Scotland	28%	35%	39%
Wales	31%	39%	44%

 

Access to a gigabit-capable service	Sep-23	Jan-24	Jul-24	Jan-25
UK	78%	80%	83%	86%
England	78%	81%	84%	86%
Northern Ireland	92%	94%	94%	95%
Scotland	72%	75%	77%	79%
Wales	64%	69%	74%	78%

 

Access to a superfast fixed line service (at least 30 Mbit/s download speed)	Sep-23	Jan-24	Jul-24	Jan-25
UK	97%	97%	98%	98%
England	98%	98%	98%	98%
Northern Ireland	98%	98%	98%	99%
Scotland	95%	96%	96%	96%
Wales	96%	96%	96%	97%

 

Access to a fixed line service with at least 10 Mbit/s download speed	Sep-23	Jan-24	Jul-24	Jan-25
UK	99%	99%	99%	99%
England	99%	99%	99%	99%
Northern Ireland	99%	99%	99%	99%
Scotland	98%	98%	98%	98%
Wales	98%	98%	98%	98%

UK Mobile Network Coverage (4G)

Geographic area – coverage range across MNOs	Sep-23	Jan-24	Sep-24	Jan-25
UK	80-87%	81-88%	88-89%	88-90%
England	92-95%	92-95%	94-96%	94-96%
Northern Ireland	88-92%	89-92%	89-95%	89-96%
Scotland	59-76%	60-78%	77-80%	78-80%
Wales	73-85%	74-87%	83-89%	84-90%

UK Mobile Network Coverage (5G)

Premises (outdoor) – coverage range across MNOs (High Confidence)	Sep-23	Jan-24	Sep-24	Jan-25
UK	48-78%	51-74%	61-79%	62-85%
England	51-81%	53-75%	65-81%	66-86%
Northern Ireland	26-62%	28-68%	36-90%	37-93%
Scotland	39-70%	42-71%	54-76%	56-81%
Wales	11-69%	12-74%	16-80%	22-85%