Catenaa, Tuesday, January 20, 2026- Usage of Openreach’s full fibre broadband in the UK jumped 40% in 2025, surpassing older fixed-line technologies in late October and signaling continued consumer adoption of high-speed digital infrastructure. The average full fibre customer now consumes 22.1GB per day, equivalent to roughly 40 hours of video calls on Zoom or Teams.
Total data traffic over Openreach’s network rose 4.8% last year, reaching 108,599 petabytes, enough to stream more than 10 million hours of HD television daily. December recorded peak usage of 10,317 petabytes, driven in part by major gaming updates, including a Fortnite release on November 30.
Around eight million homes and businesses currently use Openreach Full Fibre, with 21 million premises able to connect. The company is adding approximately one million premises every three months, targeting 25 million connections by the end of 2026 and 30 million by 2030, contingent on regulatory conditions.
CEO Clive Selley highlighted the milestone as a turning point for UK broadband. He emphasized that full fibre provides reliable speed, stable connections, and capacity for remote work, gaming, and smart home applications. The company has also implemented incentives to encourage upgrades from copper services to digital alternatives, including discounted SOGEA connections and revised pricing for legacy products.
These measures have faced complaints from competitors, but Ofcom rejected appeals against Openreach’s proactive upgrade policies, ruling that increased commercial pressure alone is insufficient to trigger intervention. The network’s expansion and rising usage underscore the UK’s shift toward faster, more resilient digital infrastructure ahead of the 2027 PSTN switch-off.
