# Speedtest® Market Report

### United Kingdom

#### Published November 15, 2016

It’s not surprising that a highly-developed country like the United Kingdom (UK) has the fifth largest number of fixed broadband subscriptions and the fourth largest number of mobile subscriptions among OECD countries. What might be surprising is the inconsistency of connectivity. Large cities like Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester have access to fast internet speeds on high-quality infrastructure while London has historically been dotted with “not-spots” that have no broadband access, no mobile connectivity, or both. Meanwhile, according to the Connected Nations 2015 report from the UK’s communications regulator, Office of Communications (Ofcom), 48% of rural areas don’t have access to broadband speeds of 10Mbps or higher. In October 2016, the UK digital minister, Matt Hancock, called for the rollout of 5G and a fully fiber network over the next ten years to keep the country competitive in the world market.

There are quite a few shifts happening in the UK market. In January 2016, BT, the country’s largest ISP, received final clearance to acquire EE, Britain’s largest mobile provider, for US$15.4 billion (£12.5 billion). BT’s acquisition of EE gives them the opportunity to bundle services which should benefit consumers. In May, the European Commission blocked Three’s attempt to acquire O2 due to concerns over what a lack of competition would do to mobile pricing, and O2’s parent company, Telefonica, has since decided not to sell the company for the time being due to uncertainty over Brexit. Meanwhile, ISP Sky made a deal to use O2’s mobile networks with plans to roll out mobile service by the end of 2016.

The UK has big plans for the future. In February 2016, Ofcom, released initial conclusions from a digital review to improve telecom quality and coverage. Plans include further opening up BT’s fiber network so competitors can connect to homes and offices, reform of Openreach’s governance (BT’s infrastructure subsidiary), and a universal right to fast, affordable broadband including spectrum licenses to improve rural mobile coverage. On the competitive front, Amazon is looking into becoming an ISP in the UK due to the relative ease of setting up in the UK compared to other European countries.

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### United Kingdom Fixed Broadband Speeds

### Report Stats

#### TEST COUNT:

13,133,593

#### 1-YEAR CHANGE (DOWNLOAD):

18 %

#### 1-YEAR CHANGE (UPLOAD):

23 %

The average fixed broadband speeds in the UK for Q2-Q3 2016 are 39.76 Mbps for download (up 18% over Q2-Q3 2015) and 8.84 Mbps for upload (a 23% increase over Q2-Q3 2015). The UK ranks 30th in the world for average download speed and 18th in Europe, coming in just behind Bulgaria, Moldova and Germany. The European average download speed was 25.94 Mbps in Q2-Q3 2016. The UK’s upload speed comparison is bleaker with the UK coming in at 67th in the world and its average upload speed is less than half the European average of 19.92 Mbps.

According to an OECD report, the UK ranks fifth for total fixed broadband subscriptions and seventh for per capita broadband subscriptions with 37.9 per 100 inhabitants. As of the end of 2015, the country’s largest ISPs are BT (32%), Sky Broadband (23%), Virgin Media (19%) and TalkTalk (13%).

Although the majority of internet connections run over copper, the country is using more and more fiber. Incumbent BT has 4.5 million fiber subscriptions of its total 9.1 million broadband customers. BT also reportedly added 216,000 retail fiber broadband customers, revealing strong demand for high-speed fiber broadband. In addition, BT’s Openreach division has successfully trialed G.Fast technology on existing copper networks, offering 330 Mbps. Openreach hopes to offer 500 Mbps by 2020. This offering provides much higher speeds than existing copper and even fiber services. With recent discussions over the independence of Openreach (BT subsidiary), the digital minister has called for BT to open up access to its infrastructure and related information to ensure a fair market.

As of November 2016, 91.4% of UK households have access to superfast connections (30 Mbps or faster). This number is expected to rise to 95% by the end of next year. Virgin will be expanding superfast broadband access and expects to see the number of connections increase from 13 million to 17 million with speeds up to 152 Mbps. This will include the addition of 360,000 Scottish premises. In October 2016, BT and Huawei trialed fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) technology, using existing infrastructure that delivered speeds as high as 40 Gbps. CityFibre, Sky and TalkTalk are also pursuing FTTP infrastructure in York independent of BT’s Openreach.

Major challenges for ISPs in the UK include pricing, transparency and security. Virgin has received criticism in the past few months following the announcement of a price hike in November 2016. Some customers will see price increases of over £40 ($49.39) a year. In a reaction to customer complaints over paying more than advertised, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is requiring all-inclusive costs as of October 31, 2016. Earlier this year, ISP TalkTalk failed to meet adequate protection of customer data, which allowed hackers to steal the data of over 156,000 customers. TalkTalk was fined $510,000 (£400,000).

### United Kingdom Fastest ISPs

### Download

#### FASTEST: Virgin Media

Virgin Media’s use of fast cable technology DOCSIS 3 means it is currently increasing the top-level service to 200 Mbps. More than that though, Virgin has invested to reduce congestion and generally make its service more than just good on paper.

### Upload

#### FASTEST: BT

BT is the industry incumbent and the fastest ISP for uploads, though PlusNet is very close behind. BT covers 83% of the UK and is focusing on improving existing copper networks with G.Fast technology and fiberoptics. The company recently increased its BT Infinity fiber download speed to 76 Mbps. BT offers broadband and TV bundles. As of last year, BT also offers mobile and is launching a new service to root out unwanted calls.

Speedtest data on top 10% download performance for fixed broadband shows Virgin with a solid lead at 161.33 Mbps in Q2-Q3 2016. That’s two and a half times faster than its closest competitor, BT. The fastest upload speed race is neck and neck between BT and PlusNet at 18.61 Mbps and 18.41 Mbps, respectively.

Virgin showed speeds of almost 1 Gbps in several regions, including Farnham, Abbotsley and Badsey. Virgin provides particularly fast internet to the city of Leeds, with a Q2-Q3 2016 average download speed of 203.16 Mbps, much faster than the city’s average speed of 92.76 Mbps. It’s not surprising that speeds are strong in Leeds which is known for its gaming industry—the developers of Grand Theft Auto V, LA Noire and Call of Duty all have studios there. Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, also had a particularly fast download speed of 150.61 Mbps among top providers led by Virgin’s impressive 157.58 Mbps average download speed.

Virgin is the fastest ISP for downloads in most major cities in the UK. In London however, Virgin takes second place to Sky which offers a lightning-fast 301.32 Mbps download speed compared to Virgin’s still commendable 160.78 Mbps.

#### HOW SPEEDTEST MEASURES FIXED BROADBAND

ISPs offering fixed broadband services are ranked based on top speed performance, which is determined using the 90th percentile of the download and upload speeds, or Top 10%, of each ISP’s Speedtest results. While many ISPs offer various service tiers, our aim is to determine who is fastest by showing the performance achieved by each residential ISP’s top tier. These speeds represent customers who subscribe to faster service tiers and provide an accurate view of the top-end performance of a given ISP. It is important to note that customers subscribing to higher tiers will generally pay more for their service than the average subscriber. For purposes of this report, only Top Providers in a given location were included in the analysis. Each ISP that accounts for at least 3% of the total sample size in the geographic area are included as a Top Provider. When analyzing the United Kingdom overall, we use the average speed, as it represents the experience of a typical consumer in the UK. When comparing ISPs individually, we use top speed performance, as it represents the performance a consumer could reasonably expect to receive if they subscribe to one of the ISP’s higher tiers of service.

### United Kingdom Mobile Speeds

### Report Stats

#### TEST COUNT:

2,687,720

#### 1-YEAR CHANGE (DOWNLOAD):

38 %

#### 1-YEAR CHANGE (UPLOAD):

31 %

Mobile speeds are increasing steadily in the UK. Average download speed on modern devices in Q2-Q3 2016 was 24.63 Mbps (a 38% rise over Q2-Q3 2015). The average upload speed of 10.11 Mbps was a 31% improvement over Q2-Q3 2015. As with broadband, the UK’s average mobile speeds are slower than might be expected on a global scale. The country’s average mobile download speed ranks 32nd in the world, 22nd in Europe, closely following countries like Bulgaria, France, and Montenegro. The UK ranks 40th globally for average mobile upload speed.

Speeds for modern devices are slightly faster in London, the UK’s capital and largest city, than the country as a whole with an average download speed in Q2-Q3 2016 of 25.12 Mbps. Other regional capitals in Britain had comparable speeds with Edinburgh coming in at 24.34 Mbps and Cardiff, the capital of Wales, at 24.54 Mbps. Download speed in Northern Ireland’s capital of Belfast was slightly slower at 21.80 Mbps.

Market penetration is more impressive with the UK ranking fourth among OECD countries for total wireless broadband subscriptions and 14th for mobile broadband penetration. The UK had 90.3% mobile penetration as of the end of 2015. UK mobile market share as of 2015 was led by EE (32.9%), followed by O2 (20.9%), Vodafone (18.2%) and Three (10%).

When looking at the availability of global 4G networks, the UK ranks low compared to North America, Northern Europe and East Asia. This is partially due to the rural connectivity problem: only 46% of the countryside has access to 4G connections. Providers are attempting innovative strategies to improve coverage throughout the country. Vodafone is trying out portable mini base station radio units in London to improve LTE access, and EE is testing drones and balloons carrying small Nokia cells to improve 4G coverage in rural areas. The company is also seeking approval for drone deliveries to remote base stations and looking into Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites for improved Voice over LTE (VoLTE). EE believes using MEO will solve the latency problem that often comes with satellite signals.

Ofcom has set a rule that 98% of homes and offices have access to an indoor 4G mobile signal by 2017. This is quite a lofty goal because the current coverage for 4G mobile is at 46%. 4G mobile connections in the UK are fast. The problem is that they are not available in many areas. EE led all providers, but their users only had access to 4G 64% of the time. O2 and Vodafone were both at 60%, and Three trailed well behind other providers with LTE coverage only 44% of the time.

The mobile industry has also had some setbacks due to pricing and transparency. Ofcom recently delivered one of the largest fines to date ($5.7 million/£4.6 million) to Vodafone for misleading pay-as-you-go customers. As a result, UK telecoms will likely be more conscientious about payment and advertising practices in the future, especially with the new law passed by the ASA and customer complaints regarding both ISPs and mobile providers.

### United Kingdom Fastest Mobile

### Download

#### FASTEST: EE

EE is the fastest mobile carrier for downloads and its average download speed increased 30% between Q2-Q3 2015 and Q2-Q3 2016. EE has the largest market share for mobile in the UK. The provider currently has 14 million 4G customers, the most of any UK operator. They continue to innovate by exploring new technologies and expanding coverage to rural areas in an effort to cover 95% of UK’s geography with 4G access by 2020.

### Upload

#### FASTEST: EE

EE (formerly Everything Everywhere), a division of BT Group, is also the fastest mobile carrier for uploads. EE’s average upload speed increased 18% between Q2-Q3 2015 and Q2-Q3 2016. At the end of Q3 2016, EE’s 3G network reached 98% of the British population. The company recently ranked first in Global Wireless Solution’s new Onescore test that measures call quality, performance, and data.

EE, a division of BT Group, was the fastest mobile provider for both average download speed and average upload speed in Q2-Q3 2016 at 32.83 Mbps and 12.09 Mbps, respectively. The company had a solid 46% lead over competitor Three for download speed and a 25% lead for upload speed.

Carriers are actively investing in mobile infrastructure improvements throughout the country. EE plans to make major investments in areas that currently do not even have access to 2G. Their boost to LTE will increase population coverage to 99.8% of the UK. Any improvements to EE’s network should also help the networks of the MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators) it leases spectrum to including Virgin. Meanwhile, Virgin began offering 4G coverage as of November 7, 2016. Vodafone is working with Ericsson on three-band carrier aggregation to improve download speeds. And EE is investing in Cat 9 technology to greatly speed up mobile connections in London, Manchester and Birmingham.

Not only will this rush of investment help achieve Ofcom’s development goals, it will also make for interesting watching to see how mobile speeds stack up in the near future.

#### HOW SPEEDTEST MEASURES MOBILE CARRIERS

The top mobile carriers in the UK are ranked using the average download speed of “Modern Devices” - those devices that are capable of connecting to the fastest, broadly-available wireless networks. In the UK, this means devices capable of 4G LTE. This ensures we provide an accurate view of the typical performance a user can achieve using a modern smartphone or tablet on a given mobile network. Top carriers are those that each account for at least 3% of the sample size in the geographic area. When analyzing the country as a whole, we use the mean value of all cellular results to account for the typical user. However, when analyzing individual carriers, we look at “Modern Devices” to account for top speeds available in the UK.

## City Leaders

## Market Summary

While the UK telecom market penetration ranks high globally, there’s a lot of room for improvement in internet speed and coverage. The country’s main challenges ahead are developing its fiber infrastructure and expanding coverage to rural areas. The good news is that the country’s telecoms, government leaders and institutions are aware of areas that need improvement and have set solid benchmarks to meet in the coming years.

Broadband providers will be bridging the gap by strengthening copper networks using G.Fast technology, which is less costly and time-consuming to implement than fiber. Meanwhile, mobile providers are investing in improvements to their infrastructure to work toward some impressive government goals.

The UK is a market to watch for innovation and legislation pertaining to fixed broadband and mobile internet.

This report was written by Sera Tajima.

Editor’s Note: This article was revised on November 17, 2016 to correct an editing error that incorrectly reported subscription rates. The article was further revised on November 21, 2016 to update subscription numbers.

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