Understanding Ofcom's Connected Nations Report
Ofcom's Connected Nations is the most comprehensive and authoritative dataset on UK broadband infrastructure. PlainBroadband is built entirely on it. This guide explains what the report is, how Ofcom produces it, what each metric means, and how to interpret the figures you see across this site.
What Is the Connected Nations Report?
Connected Nations is Ofcom's annual statistical publication covering the availability and quality of fixed-line broadband, mobile, and other communications services across the four UK nations: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It is produced under Ofcom's statutory duties as the UK's communications regulator and draws on data submitted directly by network operators.
The full annual report is published each year, typically in late autumn. Ofcom also publishes an interim update in spring that captures mid-year changes in fixed-broadband infrastructure. The data PlainBroadband uses comes from the Connected Nations 2025 interim update, which reflects the state of fixed broadband networks as surveyed in July 2025. This is the most recent available vintage at the time of publication.
The Connected Nations dataset is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL v3.0), which permits free reuse, including for commercial purposes, provided Ofcom is acknowledged as the source. PlainBroadband complies with the OGL v3.0 licence throughout. Every figure on this site traces back directly to Ofcom's published data files with no modification to the underlying numbers.
How Ofcom Collects the Data
Ofcom does not conduct physical surveys of every street in the UK. Instead, it requires broadband operators — including Openreach, Virgin Media O2, CityFibre, Sky, Gigaclear, Hyperoptic, and dozens of smaller providers — to submit regular returns describing their networks. These returns include:
- Which premises their network passes or is capable of serving
- The maximum speed the network can theoretically deliver to each premises
- The technology type (FTTC, FTTP, cable, fixed wireless access, etc.)
- Actual subscription numbers at local authority level
Ofcom cross-references this operator data with the Ordnance Survey AddressBase dataset — a comprehensive register of all addressable properties in Great Britain — to produce a premises-level availability map. A similar process uses Land and Property Services data for Northern Ireland. The result is a picture of coverage at the level of individual dwellings, aggregated up to local authority, constituency, and national level.
What "Premises-Based" Coverage Means
All coverage figures in the Connected Nations report are expressed as a percentage of premises, not as a percentage of geographic area or population. This is an important distinction.
A rural local authority covering a large geographic area might have 95% of its land mass without full-fibre coverage, yet still show 70% premises coverage because 70% of the actual dwellings in the district happen to be clustered in the one or two towns where full-fibre has been deployed. Conversely, a very densely built urban borough might show high premises coverage despite a relatively small geographic footprint simply because almost all its premises are concentrated in a small area where deployment is economic.
Premises-based measurement is the most policy-relevant approach — what matters for residents is whether their home or business can receive a service, not whether the field behind the village has fibre passing through it.
The Coverage Metrics Explained
Ofcom reports several distinct coverage metrics in Connected Nations. PlainBroadband displays all of them for every local authority and constituency. Here is what each one means:
Superfast Broadband (SFBB) — ≥30 Mbit/s
Superfast broadband coverage is the proportion of premises where at least one fixed-line provider can deliver 30 Mbit/s or more download. This includes FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet), upgraded cable networks, full-fibre, and other technologies meeting the threshold. Superfast has been the headline broadband target in UK policy since the early 2010s. By the time of the July 2025 data, national superfast coverage is above 95%.
Ultrafast Broadband (UFBB) — ≥300 Mbit/s
Ultrafast broadband covers premises where infrastructure capable of at least 300 Mbit/s is available. In practice this means full-fibre networks and the most modern cable deployments. Ultrafast sits between superfast and gigabit-capable in the speed hierarchy and is less frequently cited in policy discussions than the other tiers.
Gigabit-Capable Broadband — ≥1,000 Mbit/s
Gigabit-capable broadband is the current headline metric in UK broadband policy. It covers all infrastructure capable of delivering speeds of at least 1 Gbit/s (1,000 Mbit/s). Two technologies qualify: full-fibre (FTTP) and upgraded DOCSIS 3.1 cable networks such as those operated by Virgin Media O2. Because gigabit-capable includes cable, the gigabit-capable figure for any local authority is always equal to or higher than its full-fibre figure. The gap between the two tells you how much of the gigabit coverage in an area comes from cable rather than pure fibre.
Full-Fibre (FTTP) Coverage
Full-fibre coverage is the proportion of premises where a pure fibre-optic connection from the exchange to the building is available — with no copper segment in the final link. This is the most future-proof metric and the one most associated with the UK's long-term connectivity ambitions. Full-fibre is a subset of gigabit-capable, ultrafast, and superfast: every full-fibre premises is also counted in the other three tiers.
Full-Fibre Take-Up
Full-fibre take-up is distinct from coverage: it measures the proportion of all premises in an area that have actually subscribed to a full-fibre broadband service, not just those with the infrastructure available. Take-up is always lower than coverage and reflects consumer awareness, pricing, contract switching behaviour, and how recently full-fibre has been available in the area.
Below USO (Below 10 Mbit/s)
The below-USO figure shows the proportion of premises where no fixed-line broadband product capable of at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload is available. These are premises that may be eligible to request a connection under the Universal Service Obligation. In most urban areas this figure is effectively zero. In the most rural and remote local authorities it can be measurable. See our dedicated guide on the broadband USO for a full explanation of what this entitlement means and how to claim it.
Annual Report vs Interim Update
Ofcom publishes two editions of Connected Nations data each year. The full annual report covers fixed broadband, mobile voice, mobile data, and other services across all four nations and is typically released in autumn. The interim update, published in spring, focuses primarily on fixed broadband infrastructure and reflects network data collected around mid-year (typically May–July of the preceding year, published several months later).
PlainBroadband uses the most recent data vintage available at the time of its last update. The current dataset is from the Connected Nations 2025 interim update, with a data vintage of July 2025. This means the figures reflect the state of UK broadband infrastructure as reported by operators to Ofcom in mid-2025. Build-outs completed after that date — including Project Gigabit deployments still under construction — will not appear until Ofcom's next release.
How PlainBroadband Uses Ofcom's Data
PlainBroadband ingests Ofcom's published CSV data files, applies no transformations to the underlying numbers, and serves them at local authority and constituency level for all 361 local authority districts and 650 Westminster constituencies across the UK. The four UK nations are also shown as aggregate totals.
The site adds value by making the data browsable and comparable in ways that Ofcom's published spreadsheets do not provide out of the box: sortable rankings, side-by-side comparisons, and geographic groupings. Every figure you see on PlainBroadband corresponds directly to a cell in Ofcom's source data. The full methodology, including the specific column mappings from Ofcom's data files, is described on the methodology page.
PlainBroadband also publishes aggregated figures for each of the four UK nations — England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland — to make the national contrasts visible at a glance. These are derived by averaging or weighting the local authority figures within each nation, following Ofcom's standard aggregation approach.
The Open Government Licence
Ofcom publishes Connected Nations data under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This licence allows anyone — individuals, businesses, journalists, researchers, and developers — to use the data freely, including for commercial purposes. Users must acknowledge Ofcom as the source and must not misrepresent the data as their own original analysis where Ofcom's analysis is being reproduced.
PlainBroadband's use of Connected Nations data is fully compliant with the OGL v3.0. Ofcom is credited as the data source on every relevant page, the data vintage is stated clearly, and no modifications are made to the underlying figures. The OGL v3.0 full text is available on the National Archives website.