Northern Ireland Broadband Coverage
Data across 11 local authorities · 888,530 premises
Northern Ireland full-fibre coverage is 93.3% , above the UK national average of 77.5% . The nation ranks 1st among the four UK nations.
The verdict
Northern Ireland ranks 1st of the four UK nations for full-fibre at 93.3% — 15.8pp above the 77.5% UK average, spanning 96.3% in Antrim and Newtownabbey down to 89.9% in Fermanagh and Omagh.
Broadband Coverage in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland covers 11 local authority areas with a combined 888,530 premises, of which 93.3% can access a full-fibre (FTTP) connection and 94.2% have access to gigabit-capable broadband. The gap between full-fibre and gigabit figures reflects additional premises served by upgraded cable (DOCSIS 3.1) networks, principally in urban areas where Virgin Media O2's HFC infrastructure has been upgraded to support gigabit speeds without laying new fibre-to-the-premises.
Within Northern Ireland, coverage varies considerably at local authority level. Antrim and Newtownabbey leads with 96.3% full-fibre coverage, while Fermanagh and Omagh has the lowest proportion at 89.9% — a gap of 6.4 percentage points. No local authorities have more than 5% of premises below the Universal Service Obligation threshold, indicating a relatively even baseline of connectivity across the nation.
Superfast broadband (≥30 Mbit/s) reaches 98.5% of premises, while ultrafast (≥300 Mbit/s) is available to 94.2%. Full-fibre take-up — the proportion of premises that have subscribed to an FTTP service where one is available — stands at 57.5%, reflecting both consumer demand and the competitive broadband market. All figures are from Ofcom's Connected Nations 2025 report, published in July 2025 under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Top 10 Local Authorities by Full-fibre Coverage
Top local authorities in Northern Ireland by full-fibre (FTTP) coverage
Distribution of Northern Ireland Authorities
Where Northern Ireland's authorities cluster
Each bar is the number of Northern Ireland local authorities in that full-fibre band. The highlighted bar holds the national average (93.3%).
93.3% 1st of 4 Northern Ireland average vs the other UK nations
11 Northern Ireland local authorities, bucketed by full-fibre coverage
Source: Ofcom Connected Nations 2025 (July 2025, r01)
Local Authorities in Northern Ireland
11 areas · sorted by full-fibre| Local Authority | Full-fibre | Gigabit | Superfast | Below USO | Premises |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 96.3% | 96.7% | 99.6% | 0.0% | 66,466 |
| Ards and North Down | 95.4% | 95.8% | 99.5% | 0.1% | 79,531 |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 95.2% | 96.2% | 99.5% | 0.0% | 67,573 |
| Mid and East Antrim | 94.7% | 94.7% | 98.6% | 0.2% | 66,379 |
| Newry, Mourne and Down | 94.2% | 94.2% | 98.6% | 0.2% | 78,898 |
| Mid Ulster | 93.6% | 93.6% | 98.3% | 0.2% | 63,220 |
| Causeway Coast and Glens | 92.7% | 92.7% | 97.4% | 0.4% | 71,410 |
| Derry City and Strabane | 92.7% | 93.5% | 97.8% | 0.3% | 68,546 |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 92.1% | 92.1% | 97.7% | 0.4% | 96,997 |
| Belfast | 91.8% | 95.4% | 99.0% | 0.0% | 174,388 |
| Fermanagh and Omagh | 89.9% | 89.9% | 96.0% | 0.8% | 55,122 |
Related
Source: Ofcom Connected Nations 2025, July 2025 release (r01). Published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures represent premises-level coverage, not actual subscriptions or speeds experienced by customers.