ISPreview’s latest biannual UK summary of fixed broadband coverage for H1 2024 has found that “full fibre” (FTTP) ISP networks have grown to reach 67.68% of premises (up from 60.54% in H2 2023) and 83.39% are within reach of “gigabit” speeds (up from 79.86%). Continue on to see details for England, Wales, Scotland and N.Ireland.

Practically all the new gigabit-capable (1000Mbps+ or 1Gbps+) class connectivity added during 2024 so far have come from Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based network deployments via Openreach (BT), Nexfibre (Virgin Media), Hyperoptic, CityFibre, Netomnia (YouFibre), KCOM, Gigaclear and many other operators (Summary of Full Fibre Builds).

The reason why gigabit cover is currently still higher than FTTP is down to the 14.3 million premises covered by Virgin Media’s older Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) network, which have been upgraded to gigabit-capable DOCSIS 3.1 technology (there’s a lot of FTTP overbuild of this in urban areas). But that project completed in 2021 and thus the focus now is almost entirely on FTTP delivery for most operators.

In addition, most of the progress on gigabit-capable coverage during 2024 is still down to commercial investment in FTTP, often with only a little support from the Government’s various voucher schemes. But the £5bn Project Gigabit scheme and its subsidised rollouts are starting to have an impact on this, albeit focused on the hardest to reach premises (e.g. rural) that typically take longer to cover.

H1 2024 Broadband Coverage Figures

Listed below is the latest independent modelling from Thinkbroadband to early July 2024 (H1 – 2024). We should point out that the figure for ‘Under 10Mbps‘ doesn’t reflect 4G mobile coverage (we’re only looking at fixed broadband), which plays a part in the official USO (see below table) but isn’t included in TBB’s mapping work. Sadly, it’s incredibly difficult to do an accurate model for mobile coverage, especially in terms of a specific performance level.

Fixed Broadband Network Availability H1 – 2024

Area
30Mbps+
Full Fibre
Gigabit
% Under 10Mbps

England
98.24% (98.07%)
67.41% (60.06%)
84.15% (80.73%)
0.59% (0.64%)

UK
98.01% (97.81%)
67.68% (60.54%)
83.39% (79.86%)

0.79% (0.85%)

Wales
97.04% (96.90%)
67.38% (59.06%)
73.65% (67.58%)
1.60% (1.65%)

Scotland
96.31% (95.99%)
61.33% (54.82%)
77.64% (73.73%)
2.09% (2.26%)

N.Ireland
98.29% (97.70%)
95.19% (94.09%)
95.73% (94.68%)
0.98% (1.35%)

NOTE: It’s very important to remember that Government / political coverage targets, like 85% for gigabit by 2025, reflect a national average, which can of course be better or worse for some areas (e.g. some counties may achieve higher coverage, while others could be well below that).

Take note that each devolved region (Scotland, Wales etc.) may also have its own policy and targets, which all feed into the central UK coverage figure. Furthermore, it’s worth highlighting how much of an impact newer alternative networks (Altnets) are having on all this – excluding coverage by Openreach, KCOM (Hull) and Virgin Media.

Rival Altnets were found to have covered 35.28% of the UK with FTTP by H1 2024 (up from 30.06% in H2 2023). This breaks down as 37.16% in England (up from 31.75%), 14.23% in Wales (up from 10.72%), 29.71% in Scotland (up from 25.26%) and 34.44% in Northern Ireland (up from 29.39%). But the overall coverage improvement from this will be lower due to overbuild between so many networks, particularly in urban areas.

As stated earlier, this data is an estimate and should be taken with a pinch of salt, not least because it won’t always reflect the very latest real-world position. But it’s still one of the best and most up-to-date gauges that we have for checking against official claims (Ofcom’s own data tends to be several months behind that of TBB’s).

Solutions for Slow Broadband Areas

Finally, those still stuck in sub-10Mbps speed areas will, at least for now, be left with little option but to try harnessing the flawed 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) via BT (UK-wide) or KCOM (Hull-only). Many of those who have pursued the USO say they were offered a mobile broadband (4G or 5G) connection via EE, but those considered delivered under the USO itself usually get full fibre (FTTP) lines.

However, the reality is that some people will find they live in areas where not even the USO can cover the colossal upgrade costs of getting FTTP (here and here). The government are currently still examining support options for remote premises and are also preparing to review the broadband USO (here), which may bring some changes in the future, particularly with the new change in leadership (here).

Failing that, consumers could either try waiting to see if the problem gets resolved or consider exploring the option of a LEO satellite service (Starlink is good, if you can afford it). We would also recommend that consumers check via Three UK, Vodafone and O2 (VMO2) to see if any of those deliver better 4G or 5G mobile coverage than EE in your area (ideally by conducting your own tests, since official coverage maps are fairly useless) – see our guide to external antennas.

New customers looking to join UK ISP Hey! Broadband, which caters for areas covered by F&W Networks‘ new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) lines, may like to know that the provider is currently offering their top 900Mbps (symmetric) package for just £1.99 per month for the first size months of service on a 24-month term (£28 thereafter).

The package, which also commits to making “no price increase during the length of your contract“, includes a wireless router and free installation. But take note that the standard post-contract price of the 900Mbps package is £43 per month, or £55 if you take out a 30-day term instead.

F&WN has so far managed to extend their full fibre broadband infrastructure to cover 410,000 UK premises (RFS) across various towns in West Sussex, Oxfordshire, Greater London, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Surrey etc.

News

The chatbot is an upgrade to the pre-existing ‘TOBi’ 

Vodafone has announced the rollout of SuperTOBi, its new virtual assistant powered by Generative AI (GenAI), across Europe. Built on Microsoft Azure OpenAI, SuperTOBi is designed to handle complex customer inquiries more effectively than traditional chatbots.

After successful launches in Italy and Portugal, SuperTOBi will be available to customers in Germany and Turkey this month, with more countries to follow later in the year. This new service builds on Vodafone’s existing chatbot, TOBi, which already supports customers in 13 countries across Europe and Africa and understands 11 languages.

SuperTOBi is a key part of Vodafone’s broader effort to improve customer experience, supported by a €140 million (£120 million) investment this financial year. Unlike conventional chatbots that rely on keyword recognition, Vodafone says SuperTOBi can understand full sentences and phrases, allowing for more natural and personalised conversations. It can also transfer complex questions to human agents when needed.

In the announcement’s press release, Vodafone provided us with some results. The first-time resolution rate has increased from 15% to 60%, and the online net promoter score (NPS) has risen by 14 points to 64. Additional functions, such as billing inquiries, are also being added to SuperTOBi’s capabilities.

Vodafone has also introduced SuperAgent, a bot assistant for customer care employees, and SuperSearch, an improved search tool on its customer-facing websites. SuperAgent, based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI’s Agent Copilot solution, helps human agents find answers to complex queries more quickly. In Ireland, it summarises online customer conversations for agents, reducing the need for customers to repeat themselves. This tool uses information from Vodafone’s internal knowledge database, ensuring reliability and accuracy.

Join the UK telcos in conversation at this year’s Connected Britain event, 11-12 September in London. Get tickets here!

Also in the news:
Dutch operators finally get their hands on midband 5G spectrum
Virgin Media O2 completes first stage of Shared Rural Network
Xavier Niel’s $4.1 billion bid for Millicom is too low, company says

Press Release

Nokia, BT Group and Qualcomm achieve enhanced 5G SA downlink speeds in European first 5G Carrier Aggregation with Five Component Carriers

BT Group becomes first European operator to achieve 5G 5CC carrier aggregation, boosting 5G standalone (SA) performance ahead of network launch later this year.
Combines three FDD and two TDD carriers with 150 MHz total bandwidth, delivering greater capacity and downlink speeds in areas of high demand.
Follows 5G SA downlink 4CC carrier aggregation breakthrough in 2022, and concurrent two carrier uplink aggregation in 2023.

5 July 2024. Espoo, Finland – Nokia and BT Group today announced that they have successfully aggregated 5G Standalone (SA) spectrum using 5CC Carrier Aggregation (5CC CA), making BT Group the first European operator to achieve this milestone. The achievement uses a device powered by a Snapdragon® 5G Modem-RF system from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a pioneer and global leader in 5G technology.

5CC CA will significantly boost the data rates available to customers in areas of high demand by combining all mid-band radio spectrum when the 5G SA device requires a high-speed connection. Set to launch later this year, EE’s 5G SA network will also have the capability to leverage a low frequency sixth carrier to provide a superior experience in more places, including indoors.

In 2023, BT Group and Nokia successfully demonstrated 4CC CA in 5G SA downlink with concurrent 2CC CA in 5G SA uplink. With today’s announcement, the companies reached the next milestone, achieving further performance uplift in connections from the device to the network by increasing throughput and capacity.

The tests were conducted in the field on live network spectrum at Adastral Park, BT Group’s headquarters for R&D, using Nokia’s 5G AirScale portfolio and a device powered by a Snapdragon® 5G Modem-RF system from Qualcomm Technologies. Downlink speeds of 1.85 Gbps were reached, using three FDD carriers NR2600 (30MHz), NR2100 (20MHz), NR1800 (20MHz) aggregated with two TDD carriers NR3600 (40+40MHz).

Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer at BT Group, said: “This latest milestone achieved with Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies enhances 5G SA performance as we work towards the launch of our network, building further on the benefits of carrier aggregation in delivering greater throughput and speeds to customers. This is particularly important as more and more devices come to market with 5CC CA capabilities. We are focused on maximising our spectrum assets to deliver the very best experience to our customers with that in mind.”

Mark Atkinson, SVP and Head of RAN at Nokia, said: “This successful trial with our long-standing partner, BT is another great example of Nokia’s clear leadership in 5G carrier aggregation technology. Multi-component carrier aggregation helps mobile operators to maximize their radio network assets and provide the highest 5G data rates at more locations to subscribers.”

Dino Flore, Vice President, Technology, Qualcomm Europe, Inc. said: “Qualcomm Technologies is committed to pushing the boundaries of 5G connectivity, and our Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems are designed to unlock the full potential of 5G, delivering unparalleled speed, efficiency and capacity for networks and their users. We are proud to work with Nokia and BT Group to play a key role in bringing this enhanced 5G experience to European consumers.”

Customers of mobile network operator O2 (Virgin Media) may like to know that the operator has just responded to Hurricane Beryl, which is wreaking havoc across the Caribbean, by crediting back charges on calls and texts from the UK to several of the affected territories from 3rd to 9th July inclusive.

The territories able to benefit from this currently include Jamaica, Grenada, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Martinique, Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Cayman Islands.

“We’re also crediting roaming charges on mobile calls, texts and data used in the above territories during the same period“, added VMO2 (here).

Mobile operator EE (BT) claims to have achieved a “European first” with Nokia and Qualcomm in the UK by trialling Carrier Aggregation (CA) on 5G Standalone (5G SA) mobile technology with Five Component Carriers (i.e. 150MHz total bandwidth), which boosted their mobile broadband download speeds to 1.85Gbps.

The majority of most UK 5G network today are Non-Standalone (NSA), which means they’re still partly reliant on older and slower 4G infrastructure. But SA networks are pure end-to-end 5G that can deliver ultra-low latency times, greater energy efficiency, better upload speeds, network slicing, improved support for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, support for Voice over New Radio (VoNR or Vo5G) and increased reliability and security etc.

So far we’ve already seen both Vodafone (here) and O2 (here) launching 5G SA services in the UK, initially across the busiest parts of major cities. Meanwhile, the BT Group has said that they intend, via EE, to follow suit during the second half of 2024 (here). As part of that, EE have been trying to find ways of squeezing as much of a performance advantage out of the future upgrade as possible.

One of the ways of achieving this is by harnessing Carrier Aggregation (CA) to combine several radio spectrum bands to support a single extremely fast connection. This is not a new technology (4G used CA too), but applying this many channels (five) – all in mid-band frequencies – to the latest 5G SA technologies is at the cutting edge of commercial mobile networks.

The tests were conducted in the field on live network spectrum at Adastral Park, BT Group’s headquarters for R&D, using Nokia’s 5G AirScale portfolio and a device powered by a Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF system from Qualcomm Technologies. Downlink speeds of 1.85Gbps (Gigabits per second) were reached, using three FDD carriers NR2600 (30MHz), NR2100 (20MHz), NR1800 (20MHz) aggregated with two TDD carriers NR3600 (40+40MHz).

Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer at BT Group, said:

“This latest milestone achieved with Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies enhances 5G SA performance as we work towards the launch of our network, building further on the benefits of carrier aggregation in delivering greater throughput and speeds to customers. This is particularly important as more and more devices come to market with 5CC CA capabilities. We are focused on maximising our spectrum assets to deliver the very best experience to our customers with that in mind.”

The final launch network will “also have the capability to leverage a low frequency sixth carrier” (6 channels), which should provide another boost and aid indoor connectivity too (lower frequencies travel further). Despite being a bit late to the 5G SA party, we’d expect EE to launch the new service with a decent amount of coverage in urban areas, as they usually like to have a good reach before officially going live.

Customers of Three UK’s wireless (4G and 5G) home broadband service in Swindon (South West England), which hails from the old ‘Relish’ wireless service that was acquired from UK Broadband Ltd. in 2017 (here), were recently left in a panic after the operator incorrectly informed them that their service would “no longer be available“.

The confusion stemmed from a letter that was sent out to customers by Three UK last month, which stated: “Due to technical changes in your area, your current Home Broadband service will no longer be available from June. Your existing equipment will need to be removed by a professional. Should you wish to stay with Three we can offer you an alternative Home Broadband service. Visit the coverage checker to see what options are available in your area. We will be in contact with you to discuss.”

The situation prompted local councillors to engage with both Three UK and the government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency over the issue, which revealed that the letter was sent because the mobile operator will be replacing their existing 4G masts in the area with newer 4G / 5G ones in order to provide a better service. The catch is that this may require a change of the end-user’s (mobile) router.

According to the Swindon Advertiser and Cllr Sumner, Three UK has since acknowledged that “their communications could have been better” and they have now paused the terminations, albeit while still intending to contact those affected with an agreed date for the hardware change to occur (the new router kit will be provided for free).

In addition, the operator has said that no new contracts will be required and they’ve pledged to provide those impacted with 3 months of free broadband (the same will also be offered to re-sellers, although it is up to them whether they pass this on). But it sounds like the change won’t be particularly smooth.

Cllr Sumner said:

“I’ll be getting updates in due course on the mast programme and 7 sites will be having the new installation constructed before the old one is terminated, whilst 12 masts are what they call ‘rip and replace’ which will affect the service for customers for 3-5 days.”

Put another way, some customers may experience an outage that lasts up to 5 days, which is not trivial.

Network operator nexfibre, which shares some of their parentage with UK broadband ISP partner Virgin Media (O2), has today announced that they’ve added 20,000 additional homes in the Somerset (England) town of Yeovil to the coverage of their new 2Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) broadband network.

The roll-out should give a boost to the town, but it’s worth noting that Yeovil is already well covered by full fibre lines from Openreach and Jurassic Fibre (All Points Fibre). A little bit of Gigaclear and Wessex Internet can also be found in the area. Confusingly, Virgin’s press release also mentions a figure of both “18,000” and “more than 20,000” homes for Yeovil, so we’ve picked the roundest number.

Nexfibre has already covered over 1 million premises across the UK with their new full fibre network, and they’re currently in the process of investing another £1bn during 2024, which should enable them to cover an additional 1 million UK premises (on top of their existing footprint).

Just for some context. Telefónica, Liberty Global and InfraVia Capital Partners originally setup the new £4.5bn nexfibre joint venture in 2022 (here), which aims to deploy an open access fibre network to reach “up to” 7 million UK homes (starting with 5m by 2026) in areas NOT currently served by Virgin Media’s network of 16m+ premises. The funding reflects £3.3bn of fully underwritten financing and up to £1.4bn in equity commitments.

London-focused UK business ISP Vorboss, which has already rolled out a 100Gbps capable full fibre network in the city centre, have just opened a new City of London office headquarters at Exchange Square (Liverpool Street) to meet demand and support growth.

Just to recap. Vorboss has spent the past four years deploying 500km of their own dedicated point-to-point fibre across Central London (covering most of zones 1 and 2), which we’re told is enough to potentially connect all commercial buildings in the area to their direct internet access and Ethernet network.

However, with that build completed, they’ve recently been more focused upon growing their customer base and have also created 60 new London-based account management roles to help support customers in key industries, including media, broadcast, finance, healthcare, hospitality, hotels and fitness.

Suffice to say that the provider needed a bit more room to expand and have just moved their HQ into a new 2,700 square metre office at Exchange Square, which will house their 24/7 Network Operations Centre. More than 500 square metres of the new space is also being made available to Vorboss customers and partners for working, meeting and networking.

Tim Creswick, CEO of Vorboss, said:

“This new space – close to our network and our customers – will support our continued growth, meeting the demand that’s out there for high-capacity, reliable internet. We’ll be able to better serve our customers and partners by opening up our office to them – this is a place where London businesses can meet, work and collaborate.”

The new facility was opened with an event hosted by Howard Dawber, London Deputy Mayor for Business and Growth, in collaboration with BusinessLDN.

Broadband ISP and mobile operator Vodafone UK has announced that they’ll invest around £120m (Euros 140m) this year to deploy and upgrade their existing AI chatbot system with SuperTOBi, which will support customers via Generative AI (GenAI) technologies from Microsoft Azure OpenAI.

Vodafone already has an existing chatbot system called TOBi, which is being used in 13 countries across Europe and Africa. But the new SuperTOBi system can “understand and respond faster to complex customer enquiries better than traditional chatbots“. SuperTOBI has already been introduced in Italy and Portugal and will start serving customers in Germany and Turkey from this month, with other markets to follow “later this year“.

SuperTOBi can also interpret entire sentences and phrases, overcoming the limitations of existing chatbot technologies (and some humans ), which typically can answer only simple questions based on a few keywords. “It also engages in more natural conversation with customers for a more personalised experience, rather than one- or two-word answers, and it will automatically transfer a question it can’t answer to a person that can,” said the announcement.

Vodafone claims that the use of SuperTOBi in Portugal is already being used for booking appointments. As a result, the first-time resolution rate has increased from 15% to 60% and Vodafone’s online net promoter scores (where respondents are asked to rate their experience) improved by 14 points to 64 points (above 50 points is considered a strong result), although booking appointments isn’t exactly the hardest of tasks.

However, consumer sentiment toward the use of AI chatbots tends to be quite mixed, with many viewing it as being more of a negative and just a way of reducing the number of actual humans that are available to provide support over the longer term. On the other hand, if systems like this do end up making it quicker and easier for customers to get their issues resolved, then that will be a positive change.

Speaking of staff, Vodafone’s own customer care employees will shortly be “complemented” by an enhanced bot assistant of their own, called SuperAgent, which is based on the same sort of technologies as SuperTOBi (i.e. Microsoft Azure OpenAI’s Agent Copilot solution). This should help human agents to “quickly search and locate answers to complex queries or multiple questions” (remember when humans could do that by themselves?).

In Ireland, SuperAgent is assisting agents by sending a summary of its online customer conversation to the agent, so customers don’t need to repeat themselves. So, it’s probably not going to try and take over the world just yet, while simultaneously settling your billing woes and randomly hunting for people with the name John Conner.