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ISP BT has published the biannual (October 2025) progress update on their delivery of Ofcom’s somewhat unpopular 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband. The provider has so far helped to build a USO connection to over 8,553 premises (up from 8,411 in April 2025), with 186 further builds in-progress (down from 349).
The USO is a legally-binding and industry-funded obligation that falls on BT across the UK and KCOM in Hull. In short, people living in areas where they can’t yet receive a 10Mbps or faster download speed, and aren’t expected to be covered by such a network in the next 12-months, can request a service capable of 10Mbps+ (1Mbps+ upload) from the aforementioned internet providers.
A cost sharing model also applies here, which means that the providers will “calculate the total excess cost of the build and divide that between the eligible premises. If that amount is below £5,000 per premises (on top of the £3,400), we’ll automatically split the costs“. But some areas can still end up costing hundreds of thousands of pounds, even up to £1-2m, and would thus find the USO route to be unviable (here and here).
Ofcom states that 48,000 UK premises (0.2%) currently fall into the USO gap (i.e. those outside of suitable fixed line, fixed wireless or 4G mobile coverage) or c.370,000 premises if you exclude wireless solutions. But the regulator predicts the current 48k figure could fall to 19k by January 2028, mostly as a result of upgrades delivered via ongoing publicly funded schemes (gigabit vouchers, project gigabit contracts etc.).
Just to be clear about this. Many of those who pursue the USO option via BT say they were offered 4G (mobile broadband) connections via EE instead, but those actually considered to have been delivered under the USO itself usually get Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP). Commercial builds of the latter have also helped to shrink the USO gap (tackling the first c.80%+ of the country).
The gap will continue to shrink as both commercial and subsidised builds (e.g. the Gov’s £5bn Project Gigabit programme) expand. The government are also still exploring how best to reach those who live in “Very Hard to Reach” areas with even faster speeds – roughly equating to the same sort of area as the USO is focused upon – and at the same time they’re due to review the USO itself (here), which could lead to changes. But this work seems to have been delayed by last year’s change in government.
BT’s October 2025 Broadband USO Report
The latest statistics continue to show that the USO delivery is a slow process (e.g. in Oct 2023 there were 185 builds in progress, then 265 in April 2024, 215 in Oct 2024, 349 in Apr 2025 and now 186). We suspect this may be a combination of factors, such as a lack of consumer familiarity with the USO (apply for it here), new services like Starlink becoming available, the shrinking area of USO eligibility and the fact that the policy may be running into the limitations of economically viable deliverability.
