FTTP coverage across the UK is now at 54%

Thursday 10 August 2023 by Jonathan Victoria 

The plan to roll out FTTP to every household in the UK has been going well, with the number of houses with full fibre in the nation now sitting at 54%.

FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) is Gigabit-capable broadband and the efforts to have it installed in every household in the UK have been going well.

Early this year in April, it reached the 50% mark, meaning around 15.5 million homes now have access to FTTP.

For context, at the end of 2020, the number of households that had access to FTTP was just 19.19%, so the expansion has seen a great increase over the last few years.

The jump from 53% to 54% took 33 days, which is slightly over what the aims are. Previously, the jump from 52% to 53% took 26 days, and the slight delay at this time could likely be due to the holidays.

As we head closer towards Autumn, the increase should return to the scheduled 18-24 days per 1%.

The latest splits for each country in the UK have not been revealed; however, back in April when the 50% mark was reached, the coverage split was:

• England – 49.22%
• Scotland – 46.53%
• Wales – 46.09% 
• Ireland – 90.50%

Adjusting for the new numbers, you can imagine that Ireland is probably around 92-95%, England should be well past 50% now, while Scotland and Wales are nearing the 50% mark.

There is a UK target of 85% Gigabit-capable coverage by 2025 and full nationwide coverage by 2030. It should be noted, though, that this is technology neutral, meaning that other technologies from FTTP can be delivered and counted towards the overall target statistic.