Welcome to the ultimate page for broadband statistics in 2023. Broadband Genie haspulled together every stat related to broadband. So, whether you’re writing about broadband, or simply curious about the web, we’ve got you covered!
Broadband Affordability Statistics
- Around 5% - 1.4 million - of UK households struggle to afford their home broadband service (01)
- 47% of adults said they would donate unused data to low-income families if they could (02)
- 17 providers now offer social tariffs, which can help ensure that fixed broadband remains affordable for customers receiving benefits (03)
- Only 220,000 out of 4.3 million eligible households (5.1%) have signed up for a broadband social tariff (04)
- 49% of households earning between £6,000 and £10,000 don’t have internet access (05)
- A million people disconnected their broadband in the last year because they couldn’t afford it (06)
Internet access statistics
5% of households rely solely on mobile internet access to connect to the internet (via mobile data, dongle or USB) (07)
6% of households in the UK do not have access to the internet (08)
Online skills and confidence among Internet users: (09)
- 8% say they are not confident using the internet
- 18% are not confident in managing who has access to their online personal data
There are approximately 1.3 billion wired broadband connections in the world (10)
Internet users worldwide by age group: (11)
- 18-24: 22.8%
- 25-34: 33.8%
- 35-44: 18.6%
- 45-54: 11.9%
- 55-64: 7.3%
- 65+: 5.5%
Digital exclusion and age. The percentage of age groups that do not have internet access at home: (12)
- 75 and over: 26%
- 65-74: 8%
- 55-64: 3%
- 45-54: 2%
- 35-44: 3%
- 25-34: <1%
- 18-24: 1%
Digital exclusion and social class. Percentage of users by social class that do not have internet access at home: (13)
- AB: 2%
- C1: 3%
- C2: 5%
- DE: 14%
- Job status as unemployed: 13%
- Working: 2%
- 18-64 in DE households: 5%
- 65+ in DE households: 30%
Broadband contracts statistics
The average cost of broadband of a broadband contract in the UK is £30.03 per month (14)
There are 7.4 million broadband customers out of contract (15)
Out-of-contract broadband customers could save £227 a year by switching to a cheaper deal (source: Broadband Genie survey, 2023)
Broadband customers can save £120 a year by haggling with their current provider (source: Broadband Genie survey, 2023)
On average, a broadband customer will stay with their provider for threeyears (source: Broadband Genie survey, 2023)
BT is the most commonly used broadband provider at 20.5% of the market share (source: Broadband Genie survey, 2023)
Broadband providers by market share: (source: Broadband Genie survey, 2023)
- BT: 20.5%
- Virgin Media: 19.8%
- Sky: 16.8%
- TalkTalk: 7.6%
- Plusnet: 6.3%
- Vodafone: 5.8%
- EE: 4.3%
- Shell Energy Broadband: 3%
- NOW Broadband: 2.8%
- Community Fibre: 1.6%
- KCOM: 1.2%
- Hyperoptic: 1.1%
- Gigaclear: 0.9%
- Cuckoo: 0.9%
- iTalk: 0.9%
- John Lewis: 0.9%
- Origin: 0.8%
- One Stream: 0.8%
- SSE: 0.5%
- Pop Telecom: 0.5%
- Zen: 0.3%
- True Speed: 0.1%
- XLN: 0.1%
- Other: 2.5%
Broadband provider statistics
Plusnet is the UK’s best broadband provider (source; Broadband Genie Awards, 2023)
LightSpeed Broadband is the UK’s fastest broadband provider (source; Broadband Genie Awards, 2023)
Three is the UK’s fastest mobile broadband provider (source; Broadband Genie Awards, 2023)
Starlink is the UK’s fastest wireless internet provider (source; Broadband Genie Awards, 2023)
BT is the UK’s most reliable broadband provider (source; Broadband Genie Awards, 2023)
Origin is the broadband provider with thebest customer service (source; Broadband Genie Awards, 2023)
Plusnet offers the best value for money (source; Broadband Genie Awards, 2023)
Zen Internet customers are the most satisfied with their broadband speed (source; Broadband Genie Awards, 2023)
Broadband coverage and connection statistics
There are 27.8 million fixed broadband lines in the UK (16)
There are 1.3 billion fixed broadband internet subscriptions worldwide (17)
UK broadband coverage by speed: (18)
- Superfast: 97.5%
- Gigabit: 74.2%
- Full fibre (FTTP or FTTH): 48%
- Below 15Mb (high-speed broadband): 1.5%
- Below 10Mb (legal USO): 1%
- Below 2Mb: 0.4%
Broadband speed statistics
UK average internet speed for a fixed line connection is 72.2Mb (54th in the world) (19)
Singapore has the fastest internet speed in the world at 234.6Mb (20)
Global average internet speed for a fixed line connection is 76.3Mb (21)
Internet speed for G7 countries (worldwide ranking): (22)
- United States: 195.3Mb (8th)
- France: 156.2Mb (13th)
- Japan: 150.4Mb (15th)
- Canada: 147.9 Mb (16th)
- Germany: 82.3Mb (46th)
- United Kingdom: 72.2Mb (54th)
- Italy: 61.1Mb (65th)
Beijing is the city with the fastest internet with a download speed of 277.6Mb (23)
Top 10 broadband speed in cities: (24)
- Beijing, China: 277.6Mb
- Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: 247.3Mb
- Shanghai, China: 236Mb
- Bangkok, Thailand: 228.3Mb
- New York, United States: 224.9Mb
- Valparaíso, Chile: 222.1Mb
- Madrid, Spain: 214Mb
- Lyon, France: 213.6Mb
- Geneva, Switzerland: 210.6Mb
- Bucharest, Romania: 208.9Mb
UK average download speeds by connection: (25)
- ADSL: 7.7Mb
- FTTC: 39.4Mb
- Cable : 204.6Mb
- FTTP/H: 204.6Mb
Broadband speed by region in the UK: (26)
- East of England: 85.9Mb
- East Midlands: 116.6Mb
- London: 124.5Mb
- North East: 106.3Mb
- North West: 101.5Mb
- South East: 102.6Mb
- South West: 87.5Mb
- West Midlands: 111.5Mb
- Yorkshire and Humber: 97.4Mb
Broadband usage statistics
UK home internet users by age: (27)
- 16-24: 99%
- 25-34: 99%
- 35-44: 97%
- 45-54: 97%
- 55-64: 96%
- 65+: 73%
Age distribution of internet users worldwide: (28)
- 18-24: 22.8%
- 25-34: 33.8%
- 35-44: 18.6%
- 45-54: 11.9%
- 55-64: 7.3%
- 65+: 5.5
On average, a person spends 397 minutes (6 hours and 37 minutes) a day online (29)
UK adult internet users spend 3 hours 59 minutes online per day (30)
Young adults spend the most time online, with 18- 24-year-olds spending an average of 5 hours 6 minutes online a day (31)
UK gamers aged 13-64 spent 7 hours 33 minutes a week gaming in Q4 2021 (32)
Online gaming statistics
39% of UK adults aged 16+ play video games online (33)
56% of UK children aged 3-15 play video games online (34)
58% of UK gamers aged 13-64 subscribe to a gaming subscription service (35)
The most popular online gaming platform is Xbox Live, with 120 million users (36)
Most popular online gaming services:
- Xbox Live: 120million
- PlayStation Network: 112million (37)
- Nintendo Switch Online: 36million (38)
- Nvidia GeForce Now: 25 million users (39)
- Amazon Luna: 270,000 users (40)
Broadband customer complaint statistics
Shell Energy Broadband is the most complained about broadband provider, with 27 complaints per 100,000 customers (41)
Broadband complaints per 100,000 customers: (42)
- Shell Energy Broadband: 27
- TalkTalk: 18
- Virgin Media: 18
- Plusnet: 13
- Vodafone: 12
- BT: 10
- Now Broadband: 7
- EE: 6
- Sky: 4
Most common reasons of broadband complaints (43)
- Faults, service and provisioning: 38%
- Complaints handling: 31%
- Billing, pricing and charges: 18%
The average call waiting time is 2 minutes 37 seconds (44)
Rural broadband statistics
The average broadband speed for a rural area in the UK is 54Mb (45)
40% of UK residential premises in rural areas have access to gigabit-capable broadband (46)
38% of UK residential premises in rural areas have access to full fibre broadband (47)
68,000 UK homes and businesses can’t get access to decent broadband (10Mb), the majority of which are in rural locations (48)
Mobile internet statistics
5G coverage in the UK by at least one provider is 82% outside of premises (49)
4G coverage of UK landmass is 92% (50)
The UK is in the top 5 for the highest mobile internet penetration rate (51)
Bahrain: 94%
Uruguay 94%
Hong Kong: 93%
South Korea: 91%
United Kingdom: 91%
A typical download speed for a 4G connection is 20-50Mb (52)
The average 5G download speed is 132Mb (53)
The average 5G upload speed is 14Mb (54)
On average, a person in the UK spends 4 hours a day on their mobile device (55)
Email is the most common activity on a mobile device at 85% (56)
- Email: 85%
- Web browsing: 81%
- Internet banking: 76%
- Messaging apps: 71%
- Social Media: 70%
- Reading the news: 70%
- Streaming and downloading music: 62%
- Video and voice calls: 49%
- Gaming: 41%
- Selling goods and services: 21%
Satellite broadband statistics
Satellite broadband average speed in the UK is 109.9Mb (57)
Prior to 2021, satellite broadband average speed in the UK was 14Mb (58)
Starlink broadband, operated by SpaceX, has over 1 million subscribers worldwide (59)
1.3 million broadband subscribers in the UK use a satellite connection (60)
Broadband outages and connection issue statistics
38% of broadband complaints are due to faults, service and provisioning (61)
Broadband outages cost the UK economy £1.3bn a year (62)
14.8 million broadband users in the UK are hit by major broadband outages (63)
TV streaming statistics
The average UK household subscribes to 2.4 streaming services (64)
Streaming services accounted for 18% of total TV viewing (65)
A person streams an average of 58 minutes of viewing per day (66)
Percentage of households subscribed to a streaming service (67)
- Any service: 67%
- Netflix: 60%
- Amazon Prime: 46%
- Disney+: 23%
- NOW: 7%
- Apple TV: 6%
- Other: 6%
Breakdown of streaming services used to watch programmes, films or other video content (68)
- Netflix: 69%
- Amazon Prime Video 55%
- Disney+ 35%
- Sky Go: 25%
- Virgin Media Go: 12%
- NOW: 12%
- Discovery+ 8%
- Apple TV: 7%
- BritBox: 6%
- All 4: 5%
- YouTube Premium: 5%
- Starzplay: 4%
- ITV Hub: 4%
- Hayu: 4%
- Crunchyroll: 2%
Broadband requirements for TV streaming:
- Standard definition: 1Mb (69)
- High Definition (HD): 5Mb (70)
- 4K Ultra High Definition: 25Mb (71)
Over 95% of fibre and cable Netflix streams are delivered in Ultra HD (72)
Music streaming statistics
Radio accounts for 63% of audio listening. Down from 75% in 2017 (73)
Streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music account for 20% of audio listening. More than double than in 2017 (74)
For young adults (aged 15-34), listening to online music via a streaming service accounted for the greatest amount of time spent listening to audio in Q1 2022, at 47% of weekly audio listening (75)
Broadband and working statistics
16% of workers haven’t been able to do their job because of broadband issues (76)
8% of workers miss out on jobs or promotions due to unreliable broadband (77)
10% of workers are more likely to go into the office due to problems with their home internet connectivity (78)
10% of workers face questions or comments regarding the quality of their broadband connection (79)
36% regularly switch to mobile broadband to stay online (80)
47% of home workers experienced increased stress due to internet connection issues in their home (81)
28% of home workers consider switching to mobile data for important calls (82)
67% of home workers say access to decent mobile broadband is an important factor when deciding where to live (83)
Zoom is the most used video conferencing platform in the UK (84)
Most used video conferencing platforms used in the UK (85)
- Zoom: 53%
- Microsoft Teams: 24%
- Google Meets: 9%
- Skype: 6%
Broadband education statistics
There are 14,075,345 children in the UK (86)
There are a total of 32,163 schools in the UK (87)
- 3,079 nurseries
- 20,806 primary schools
- 23 middle schools
- 4,190 secondary schools
- 2,461 independent schools
- 1,546 special schools
- 57 non-maintained special schools
- 348 pupil referral units (PRUs)
9% of children (1.78 million) don’t have access to a laptop, desktop or tablet (88)
51% of low-income households (earning between £6,000 and £10,000) don’t have internet access (89)
7% of children only have access to a mobile broadband connection (90)
5% of pupils in the poorest schools do not have adequate access to a device (91)
Methodology and sources
1. Ofcom: Affordability of Communications Services
2. Good Things Foundation: Insights Towards Solving Data Poverty
4. The Guardian: Broadband firms accused of burying cheaper deals
5. University of Cambridge: Digital Divide
6. Citizens Advice: One million lose broadband 2023
7. Ofcom: Digital Exclusion Review 2022
8. Ofcom: Homes Without Broadband Report
9. Ofcom: Digital Exclusion Review 2022
10. Advanced Television: Broadband Data
11. Statista: Age Distribution of Internet Users 2022
12. Ofcom: Digital Exclusion Review 2022
13. Ofcom: Adults Media Use and Attitudes Report 2022
14. Numbeo: Broadband Price Rankings by Country
15. Ofcom: Telecoms Customers Saving Millions
16. Ofcom: Telecoms Market Data Update Q2 2022
17. Statista: Number of Fixed Broadband Subscriptions Worldwide 2005-2021
18. Think Broadband: UK Superfast and Fibre Coverage Results
19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Speed Test: Median Country Speeds March 2023
25, 26. Think Broadband: UK Superfast and Fibre Coverage Results
27. Ofcom: Adults Media Use and Attitudes Report 2022
28. Statista: Age Distribution of Internet Users 2022
29. Oberlo: Average Time People Spend Online
30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. Oberlo: Average Time People Spend Online
36. Statista: Number of Monthly Active Users of Microsoft Xbox
37. Statista: Number of Active Users on PlayStation Network
38. Statista: Number of subscribers of Nintendo Switch Online
39. VentureBeat: Nvidia GeForce Now Expansion
40. Statista: Subscriber Count of Leading Cloud Gaming Services
41, 42, 43. Ofcom: Broadband, Landline, Mobile and TV Complaints Report
44. Ofcom: Comparing customer service 2023
45. Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs: Statistical Digest of Rural England
46, 47, 48, 49, 50. Ofcom: Connected Nations 2022
51. Global Data: Countries With Highest Internet Penetration By Mobile Internet in 2021
52. Simrush: Fastest 4G Network UK
53, 54. Broadband Genie: Guide to 3G and 4G Speeds
55. Exploding Topics: Time Spent Using Smartphones 2023
56. Cyber Crew: 30+ Smartphone Usage Statistics for the UK 2023
57, 58. Think Broadband: UK Superfast and Fibre Coverage
59. Insider: Starlink Has Hit More Than 1 Million Users
60. ISPreview: Survey Wrongly Claims 1.3 Million UK Homes Use Satellite Broadband
61. Ofcom: Broadband, Landline, Mobile and TV Complaints Report
62. Computer Weekly: Brits battered by Broadband Outages in Past Year Cost UK Economy £1.3bn
63. ISPreview: Uswitch Claim 14.8 Million UK People Hit by Major Broadband Outages
64. The Guardian: Streaming Subscriptions Decline as UK Households Cut Budgets
65, 66, 67, 68. Ofcom: Media Nations UK 2022
70, 71. Disney Plus: Help
72. Ofcom: UK Home Broadband Performance
73, 74, 75. Ofcom: Media Nations UK 2022
76, 77, 78. ISPreview: Uswitch Claims 11 Million UK People Hit by Major Broadband Outages
79, 80, 81, 82. Finder: Working From Home and Hybrid Working Statistics
83. ISPreview: Over a Third of UK Home Workers are Switching to Mobile Data
84, 85. Email Tool Tester: The Most Popular Video Call Conferencing Platforms Worldwide
86. Unicef: How Many Children Are There in the UK?
87. British Educational Suppliers Association: Key UK Education Statistics
88, 89, 90. iNews: School Closures Threaten the Education of Low-income Children
91. Statista: Age Distribution of Internet Users 2022
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