Broadband Statistics 2024

Author: Alex Tofts

Last updated: 24 April 2024

Welcome to the ultimate page for broadband statistics in 2024. We’ve pulled together every stat related to broadband from around the world, so whether you’re writing about broadband, or simply curious about the web, we’ve got you covered!

Quick overview of broadband statistics in 2024

• Customers in the UK on average spend £30.84 on their broadband contract (source: Broadband Genie)
• The average download speed for a fixed line broadband connection in the UK is 104.53Mb (source: Ookla)
• Broadband customers can save £184 a year by switching broadband provider (source: Broadband Genie)
• Out of contract broadband customers on average pay £34.79 a month (source: Broadband Genie)
• Customers who regularly take out a new deal (every two years) pay £27.89 a month (source: Broadband Genie)

Broadband contract and 2024 switching statistics

• On average, switching broadband can save a customer £184 a year (source: Broadband Genie)
• On average, broadband customers can save £29 a year by renewing or haggling their current deal (source: Which?)
• On average, broadband customers pay £30.84 a month in the UK (source: Broadband Genie)
• There are 7.4 million broadband customers out of contract (source: Ofcom)
• On average, a broadband customer will stay with their provider for 3 years and 5 months (source: Broadband Genie)

Table: Broadband providers by market share (source: Broadband Genie)

• The average length of a broadband contract is 18.96 months (source: Broadband Genie)

What are the main reasons people don’t switch broadband providers? (source: ISPreview)

• 43% were happy with their current service
• 37% didn’t want to lose their email address
• 32% feared the whole process would be “too much hassle“
• 20% say they haven’t found a better deal
• 14% are afraid they’ll suffer slower speeds
• 13% said they felt loyal to their current ISP

Broadband affordability statistics

• UK bill payers spend 1.42% of their salary on broadband (source: Broadband Genie)
• Worldwide, on average bill payers spend £38.38 on broadband a month (source: Broadband Genie)
• The cheapest broadband in the world is found in Sri Lanka, £5.22 a month (source: Broadband Genie)
• Turkmenistan has the most expensive broadband in the world, at £287.53 a month (source: Broadband Genie)
• Hong Kong has the most affordable broadband in the world. Residents pay 0.73% of their salary on broadband (source: Broadband Genie)
• Turkmenistan has the least affordable broadband in the world - on average, broadband contracts cost 93% of a salary (source: Broadband Genie)
• 9% of households struggle to afford their home broadband service (source: UK Parliament)
• Broadband social tariffs start at £12.50 for fibre broadband or £10 a month for 5G. (source: Broadband Genie)
• 27 broadband and mobile providers offer a social tariff (source: Broadband Genie)
• 220,000 customers are subscribed to a broadband social tariff - this represents 5.1% of eligible customers (source: Ofcom)
• 53% of benefit claimants aren’t aware of broadband social tariffs (source: Ofcom)
• One million people disconnected their broadband because they couldn’t afford it (source: Citizens Advice)
• 7% of UK households do not have internet access at home (source: UK Parliament)
• Social tariffs are available to 99% of the UK (source: UK Parliament)
• 2.6 billion people worldwide don’t have access to the internet (source: International Telecommunication Union)

Which countries pay the most for broadband?

Top 5 countries for the highest broadband cost (monthly cost of a broadband contract) (source: Broadband Genie):

1. Turkmenistan: £287.53
2. Equatorial Guinea: £228.97
3. Papua New Guinea: £183.01
4. Malawi: £140.17
5. Greenland: £136.11

Which countries pay the least for broadband?

Top 5 countries for the lowest broadband cost (monthly cost of a broadband contract) (source: Broadband Genie):

1. Sri Lanka: £5.22
2. Turkey: £6.43
3. Romania: £6.72
4. Russia: £6.78
5. India: £6.94

Broadband outage statistics 2024

• 22 million have broadband outages of more than three hours or more (source: The Register)
• 25% of broadband users have experienced outages of almost a week (source: The Register)
• Unreliable internet costs the UK economy a total of £11bn per year (source: easy Networks)
• 71% of business leaders say slow or unreliable broadband hurts operations (source: thinkbroadband)

Broadband speed statistics 2024

• The average fixed line broadband download speed in the UK is 110Mb (source: Broadband Genie)
• The average upload speed in the UK is 84Mb (source: Broadband Genie)
• The average download speed in the world for a fixed line connection is 93.28Mb (source: Ookla)
• The slowest area for broadband is Canterbury is the UK’s slowest city for broadband, with an average download speed of 34Mb (source: Broadband Genie)
• Belfast is the UK’s fastest city for broadband, with an average download speed of 152Mb. (source: Broadband Genie)
• The average mobile download speed in the UK is 54.41Mb (source: Ookla)
• The average mobile download speed in the world is 52.98Mb (source: Ookla)
• The slowest street in the UK is Morriston Close, Watford (source: Broadband Genie)
• The fastest street in the UK is Meadway, Northampton (source: Broadband Genie)
• Singapore has the fastest broadband in the world, averaging a download speed of 284.13Mb (source: Ookla)
• Cuba has the slowest fixed line broadband in the world, averaging a download speed of 2.92Mb (source: Ookla)

Which countries have the fastest broadband?

Table: top 10 countries for broadband download speed (source: Ookla)

Which countries have the slowest broadband?

Table: bottom 10 countries for broadband download speed (source: Ookla)

Broadband provider statistics 2024

• YouFibre was voted the best broadband provider in the UK (source: Broadband Genie)
• Zen Internet was voted the best widely available broadband provider in the UK (source: Broadband Genie)
• YouFibre was voted the best altnet in the UK (source: Broadband Genie)
• Brillband is the UK’s fastest broadband provider, with an average download speed of 523Mb (source: Broadband Genie)

Broadband providers in the UK average download speeds:

Table: popular broadband providers download speed (source: Broadband Genie)

• Virgin Media is the UK’s fastest widely available provider, with an average download speed of 201Mb (source, Broadband Genie)
• Starlink is the UK’s fastest wireless provider, with an average download speed of 80Mb (source, Broadband Genie)
• toob offers the best value broadband in the UK (source, Broadband Genie)
• YouFibre has the best customer service in the UK (source, Broadband Genie)
• Trooli is the UK’s most reliable broadband provider (source, Broadband Genie)
• Vodafone offers the UK’s best social tariff (source, Broadband Genie)

Broadband usage statistics

• Worldwide, on average, a person spends 6.4 hours a day online (source: Statista)
• In the UK, the average adult spends 3 hours and 41 minutes online (source: Statista)
• A UK adult spends 56 days a year online (source: Ofcom)
• In the UK, young adults (18-24) spend the most time online at 4 hours and 36 minutes each day (source: Ofcom)

Broadband coverage and connection statistics

• There are 28.2 million fixed-line broadband connections in the UK (source: Ofcom)
• There are 1.5 broadband subscriptions worldwide (source: Statista)
• Superfast broadband (30Mb+) is available to 98% of the UK (source: thinkbroadband)
• Gigabit broadband (1Gb+ or 1,000Mb+) is available to 82% of the UK (source: thinkbroadband)
• Full fibre broadband is available to 65% of the UK (source: thinkbroadband)
• 0.27% can’t get a download speed above 2Mb (source: thinkbroadband)

Rural broadband statistics

• 750,000 houses in the UK do not have fibre broadband or Superfast broadband (source: thinkbroadband)
• Broadband users in rural areas receive an average download speed of 56Mb, 26% slower than those in urban areas (source: Ofcom)
• 61,000 (0.2%) of premises do not have access to a broadband connection of 10Mb (source: Ofcom)
• 44% of premises in rural areas have access to gigabit-capable broadband, compared to 81% in urban areas (source: UK Parliament)

Internet access statistics

• There are approximately 5.35 billion internet users worldwide (source: Statista)
• There are approximately 5.04 billion social media users in the world (source: Statista)
• There are approximately 1.5 billion broadband connections in the world (source: Statista)
• 21% of users in the UK can only access the internet using a mobile device (source: Rural Services Network)
• 6% of homes in the UK don’t have access to the internet (source: Rural Services Network)
• 96% of the global population have used a mobile device to access the internet (source: Statista)
• 34% of the world's population does not have access to the internet (source: Statista)
• On average, people spend 6.5 hours on the internet each day (source: GlobalWebIndex)

Table: Internet users worldwide by age group (source: Statista)

• In the UK, 34% of people aged 75 and over do not use the Internet and 10% of people aged 65–74 do not use the internet (source: AgeUK)
• The UK government has invested £1.3 billion into next-generation broadband (source: Gov.uk)
• China has 1.05 billion internet users, the most in the world (source: Exploding Topics)

Table: Top 10 countries for internet users

Business broadband statistics

• On average, a business broadband contract in the UK costs £40.43 a month (source: Broadband Genie)
• 71% of business leaders say slow or unreliable broadband harms operations (source: thinkbroadband)
• Business broadband providers in the UK have an average download speed of 152Mb (source: Broadband Genie)
• Business broadband providers in the UK have an average upload speed of 109Mb (source: Broadband Genie)
• The average worker loses 38 hours a year because of broadband disruptions (source: easy Networks)
• Broadband disruptions cost the UK economy £11bn a year (source: easy Networks)

4G and 5G statistics

• 4G internet is available to 93% of UK landmass by one provider and 71% landmass coverage by all network operators (source: UK Parliament)
• 5G internet is available to 66-77% outside of premises by at least one mobile network operator (source: Ofcom)
• 4G internet is available to 90% of the world's population (source: Ericsson)
• 5G internet is available to 45% of the world's population (source: Ericsson)
• Puerto Rico has the highest 5G coverage at 48.4% user coverage (source: Statista)

Which countries have the most 5G coverage?

Table: top 10 countries for 5G coverage (availability expressed as the share of time 5G users spend connected to 5G) (source: Statista)

• 5G internet is up to 100 times faster than 4G internet (source: Ericsson)

Mobile data affordability statistics

• Worldwide, people on average speed $24.20 on a mobile contract (source: Broadband Genie)
• On average, the UK spends £12.19 a month on a mobile contract (source: Broadband Genie)
• Guinea has the most expensive mobile contracts in the world at $115.58 a month (source: Broadband Genie)
• Iran has the cheapest mobile contracts in the world, at $2.24 a month (source: Broadband Genie)
• North America spend the most on mobile contracts, on average spending $50.39 a month (source: Broadband Genie)
• Central America spend the least on mobile contracts, on average spending $23.15 a month (source: Broadband Genie)

Which countries pay the most for mobile contracts?

Table: top 5 countries for the highest mobile contract cost (monthly cost of a mobile contract): (source: Broadband Genie)

Which countries pay the least for mobile contracts?

Table: top 5 countries for the lowest mobile contract cost (monthly cost of a mobile contract): (source: Broadband Genie)

Mobile provider statistics

• O2 has the largest share of mobile customers at 27.4%: (source: Analysys Mason)

Table: UK mobile netowrk market share

• Three has the fastest mobile internet in the UK, averaging a download speed of 71Mb (source: Broadband Genie)

Table: Mobile internet speed by provider (source: Broadband Genie)

Broadband customer complaint statistics

• Virgin Media is the most complained about broadband provider (source: Ofcom)
• Sky is the least complained about broadband provider (source: Ofcom)

Table: Most common reasons for broadband complaints (source: Ofcom)

• Customer complaint call times average 2 minutes 37 seconds (source: Ofcom)

Landline customer complaint statistics

• Virgin Media is the most complained about landline provider (source: Ofcom)
• Sky is the least complained about landline provider (source: Ofcom)

Table: Most common reasons for landline complaints (source: Ofcom)

Mobile customer complaint statistics

• O2 is the most complained about mobile provider (source: Ofcom)
• Sky, Tesco Mobile, EE and Vodafone have the fewest number of complaints (source: Ofcom)

Table: Most common reasons for mobile complaints (source: Ofcom)

• Customer complaint call times average 2 minutes 23 seconds (source: Ofcom)

Table: Customer call wait times by provider (source: Ofcom)

Pay-TV customer complaint statistics

• Virgin Media is the most complained about pay-TV provider (source: Ofcom)
• Sky and TalkTalk have the fewest pay-TV complaints (source: Ofcom)

Most common reasons for pay-TV complaints: (source: Ofcom)

• Complaints handling: 43%
• Billing, pricing and charges: 26%
• Faults, service and provisioning: 16%

Broadband and working statistics

• 16% of workers haven’t been able to do their job because of broadband issues (source: ISPreview)
• 8% of workers miss out on jobs or promotions due to unreliable broadband (source: ISPreview)
• 10% of workers are more likely to go into the office due to problems with their home internet connectivity (source: ISPreview)
• 10% of workers face questions or comments regarding the quality of their broadband connection (source: finder)
• 36% regularly switch to mobile broadband to stay online (source: finder)
• 47% of home workers experienced increased stress due to internet connection issues in their home (source: finder)
• 28% of home workers consider switching to mobile data for important calls (source: finder)
• 67% of home workers say access to decent mobile broadband is an important factor when deciding where to live (source: ISPreview)
• Zoom is the most used video conferencing platform in the UK (source: Email Tool Tester)

Table: Most used video conferencing platforms used in the UK (source: Email Tool Tester)

Broadband education statistics

• 67% (1.3 billion) of the world's school-age children (3-17) do not have an internet connection in their homes (source: Unicef)
• 9% of children (1.78 million) don’t have access to a laptop, desktop or tablet (source: iNews)
• 51% of low-income households (earning between £6,000 and £10,000) don’t have internet access (source: iNews)
• 7% of children only have access to a mobile broadband connection (source: iNews)
• 5% of pupils in the poorest schools do not have adequate access to a device (source: Statista)

Streaming statistics

• The average UK household subscribes to 2.4 streaming services (source: The Guardian)
• Streaming services accounted for 18% of total TV viewing (source: Ofcom)
• A person streams an average of 58 minutes of viewing per day (source: Ofcom)

Table: Percentage of households subscribed to a streaming service (source: Ofcom)

Table: Most popular streaming services in the UK (source: Finder)

• On average, UK customers spend £500 per annum on streaming services (source: Independent)
• UK viewers waste £312 a year on unused streaming subscriptions and services (source: Independent)

Broadband requirements for streaming (source: Broadband Genie)

• The UK spends £4.915 billion on streaming services (source: Independent)
• The UK spends £1.87 billion on streaming music (source: Advanced Television)

Online gaming statistics

• 38% of adults (16+) in the UK play video games online (source: Ofcom)
• 57% of children (aged 3–15) in the UK play video games online (source: Ofcom)

Mobile and communication statistics

• On average, people spend 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phone each day (source: Exploding Topics)
• Individuals check their phone on average 58 times per day (source: Exploding Topics)

Table: Most common activity on a mobile device (source: Cybercrew)

• Methodology

  We collected every stat related to broadband with the most recent authoritative and trustworthy source. The sources of research can be found in the body copy.

  The savings by switching broadband providers is calculated by taking the average monthly subscription cost of an out-of-contract customer and the difference over a 12-month period compared to the cheapest equally fast deal on the market.

  If you see an incorrect source, or outdated piece of information or would like a statistic added to this page, please contact [email protected] or [email protected]

  More information about frequently used terms such as ‘Mb’, ‘superfast broadband’ or ‘full fibre’ can be found in our Broadband Glossary