Transparency data

January 2024 performance reporting

Published 22 February 2024

1. Summary

As of January 2024, Building Digital UK’s (BDUK) interventions have passed 1,006,800 premises with gigabit-capable broadband. This note provides a breakdown by year, region, BDUK intervention and premises base.

2. Tables and further information

2.1 Background and limitations

BDUK has produced these figures using the same methodology as for our BDUK Performance Report 2023. These figures are subject to a similar level of internal quality assurance as for the BDUK Performance Report 2023, though these figures have not undergone independent checks by auditors and are a subset of the tables normally published as part of the BDUK Performance Report 2023.

This release is the first time that BDUK is releasing Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) performance data.

Figures are based on BDUK’s premises passed data, which is the full set of UK premises that BDUK treats (or has treated) as eligible for each of BDUK’s interventions. As a result of this, BDUK’s premises passed figures do not align with Ofcom’s premises base. Most notably, we include ‘child’ premises (e.g. apartments in houses of multiple occupancy) in scope of our programmes.

2.2 Table notes

Please note that:

• tables are rounded to the nearest 100, so figures may not sum due to rounding
• “<50” indicates a value greater than 0 but less than 50
• “(r)” indicates where data has been revised

2.3 Premises passed by year, nation and region (Table A3)

ONS Code	Region	Total premises to 1 Jan 2024	Between 1 April 2023 and 1 Jan 2024	Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 (r)	Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 (r)	By 31 March 2021 (r)
E92000001	England	710,200	44,800	95,100	104,400	465,900
E12000001	North East	23,000	3,000	3,900	4,500	11,600
E12000002	North West	51,500	4,700	4,300	4,300	38,200
E12000003	Yorkshire and the Humber	66,500	6,200	4,900	7,500	48,000
E12000004	East Midlands	81,000	5,400	10,400	13,300	51,900
E12000005	West Midlands	66,400	4,500	8,600	6,600	46,700
E12000006	East of England	141,100	5,000	20,400	28,800	86,900
E12000007	London	9,200	<50	300	300	8,600
E12000008	South East	148,900	7,200	22,200	24,800	94,800
E12000009	South West	122,500	8,700	20,100	14,300	79,400
N99999999	Northern Ireland	118,900	13,400	40,300	32,600	32,600
S99999999	Scotland	68,800	11,500	17,500	6,800	33,000
W99999999	Wales	108,800	1,900	9,100	13,000	84,800
	Total	1,006,800	71,600	162,000	156,900	616,400

Sources: 

• BDUK management information as of January 2024
• National Statistics UPRN Lookup, Region 2022 (February 2023)
• National Statistics Postcode Lookup, Region 2022 (February 2023)

2.4 Premises passed by BDUK intervention (Table A7)

BDUK intervention	Total premises to 1 Jan 2024	Between 1 April 2023 and 1 Jan 2024	Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 (r)	Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 (r)	By 31 March 2021 (r)
Superfast programme	746,500	31,600	92,000	99,700	523,200
Vouchers schemes	250,800	35,800	69,800	53,900	91,200
of which were connected vouchers	110,400	20,900	25,500	22,900	41,100
Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS)	4,300	4,200	100	<50	<50
Hubs	5,300	<50	<50	3,300	1,900
Total	1,006,800	71,600	162,000	156,900	616,400

Source: BDUK management information as of January 2024

2.5 Premises passed by premises base (Table A8)

	Total premises to 1 Jan 2024	Between 1 April 2023 and 1 Jan 2024	Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 (r)	Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 (r)	By 31 March 2021 (r)
Premises passed	1,006,800	71,600	162,000	156,900	616,400
Premises also estimated to form part of Ofcom’s premise base	938,100	67,900	150,800	147,100	572,300

Sources:

• BDUK management information as of January 2024
• Ofcom Connected Nations (2023 Methodology Annex)

3. Definitions and additional notes for understanding the tables

3.1 Premises passed

Premises are classified as passed by gigabit-capable broadband if it is possible to access a gigabit-capable service for the standard price and be connected in the standard timescale.

Delivery for previous years has been revised due to improved reporting from suppliers. BDUK previously reported 929,700 premises delivered to the end of the 2022 to 2023 financial year. The increase to 935,300 for that same time period is largely driven by higher quality Ready for Service (RFS) data for premises delivered by vouchers schemes.

Approximately 5,700 premises have been removed from our counts where the premises has benefited from more than one intervention. The majority of these (4,800) related to spillover or indirect subsidy, rather than BDUK directly paying to provide a connection to a particular premises.

3.2 Superfast delivery

Delivery for previous years has been revised following the receipt of revised and improved reporting from suppliers.

Performance reporting is based on delivery reports provided by suppliers and validated by local bodies. The total includes all delivery reported to BDUK referencing a premises as either Technically Ready for Service (TRFS) or Customer Ready for Service (CRFS) within relevant date ranges, with an FTTP connection or gigabit-capable technology.

Performance from Superfast contracts includes some premises that prior to subsidy were classified as having, or expected to soon benefit from, a commercial Next Generation Access (NGA) / 30Mbps connection. The inclusion of these spillover premises reflects the low likelihood of these premises receiving a gigabit-capable connection at that time without the infrastructure subsidised by the Superfast contract. We have taken into account changes since then and removed premises that either showed a fibre supplier or obtained a connection of 100Mbps+ by Dec 2021 (VM02’s DOCSIS 3.1 switchover). Following this approach, approximately 61,000 spillover premises have been included in performance reporting from Phase 3 contracts.

There are approximately 7,000 premises where the local body has validated the delivery but the delivery report does not state the date the connection was provided. We attribute these premises to delivery before 31 March 2021 because these premises were delivered through Phase 1 and Phase 2 Superfast contracts.

Further premises have been recently identified and are subject to further testing before inclusion. These are the spillover build premises in the Fastershire areas (Hereford and Gloucestershire) and will be included in our next publication figures.

3.3 Vouchers delivery

Performance reflects 110,400 vouchers connected, subject to verification and paid based on the date when payment was approved (Payment Customer Approved Date) and the availability of a beneficiary address and postcode or UPRN.

BDUK has adopted a hybrid approach to estimating the number of premises passed by voucher schemes. Around half of premises passed (125,000, or 50% of premises) are estimated using a multipliers methodology, which covers 2,400 projects. The remaining premises from 1,200 projects are calculated using a counting methodology. This is where the supplier has provided BDUK with Ready for Service (RFS) data - that is, the premises that are now able to order a gigabit-capable product as a result of the project - through a quarterly collection and the data has passed through a series of checks.

The multipliers used to estimate premises passed where RFS data is not available are based on completed projects. The multipliers are applied based on when the first voucher was connected:

• earlier than 2019/20: 2.1
• 2019/20: 2.2
• 2020/21: 2.1
• 2021/22: 1.8
• 2022/23: 1.7

BDUK also applies attrition assumptions to these estimates of the additional premises passed by voucher projects to reflect post-delivery analysis of project completion rates - the estimated build of a project against the build plans. These attrition assumptions have been informed by analysis of the premises passed by voucher projects in Ofcom Connected Nations and other data sources and will be kept under review for future performance reporting. These have been estimated at 5% for counted premises and 18% for multiplier-derived premises (and are reflected in the multipliers above).

The other areas of uncertainty are:

• the removal of premises that we are not able to assess commercial viability for (4,000)
• premises that were not included within the original build plans for that project (14,000)

BDUK has taken a conservative approach and removed these premises from the estimates published above. If they were to be included, the premises passed figure for vouchers would be approximately 268,000.

3.4 Hubs delivery

As a result of a data processing error, 800 hubs were erroneously removed from our previous figures reported in the BDUK Performance Report 2023. These were first reported in the December 2023 Project Gigabit progress update and are added into total delivery for the first time here.

The total includes delivery from three interventions:

Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme - RGC public sector buildings are noted as delivered when the site is connected and becomes gigabit-capable. This is based on management information returns from local bodies and suppliers that are then aggregated by BDUK delivery teams. All sites in the programme have received a gigabit-capable connection and management information has tracked an address and postcode or UPRN for each site.

Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme - For performance reporting purposes, BDUK only counts buildings funded by BDUK and removes assets or buildings not funded by BDUK. UPRNs for public sector buildings are tracked in supplementary management information for 85% of buildings, but connection dates are not available for analysis at this geographic level. BDUK will continue to improve the quality of its data, so these figures may change in future reports.

Gigahubs - Performance is measured through BDUK management information records, which are confirmed and verified with local delivery leads.

Each hub is expected to result in (at least) one premises passed by a gigabit-capable connection. This is a conservative assumption as hubs are intended to stimulate local build.

3.5 Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS)

Performance reporting uses delivery reports provided by suppliers. Premises are reported by the date they were passed, and may therefore be revised in the future as a result of corrections and additional reporting in subsequent supplier returns. Premises also must be marked as “eligible” and form part of the initial scope of a contract. As a result of these criteria, 900 additional premises have been removed that do not meet our validity criteria for performance reporting.

3.6 Geographic breakdowns of premises

Premises have been allocated between nations and regions based on the address, postcode of the delivery point or the UPRN. We first attempt a match on UPRN, then postcode and finally string extraction from the address. To align with Geography Policy for National Statistics, BDUK uses the National Statistics UPRN Lookup (NSUL) and the National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL), both the February 2023 editions. For regional breakdowns, 2022 boundaries have been used. 

3.7 Premises passed with a gigabit connection also estimated to be in the Ofcom Connected Nations premises base

For transparency, BDUK has estimated how many of the premises passed by BDUK interventions also form part of the latest (2023) Ofcom Connected Nations ‘premises base’. This is the list of premises that Ofcom collect data on and the basis of their reporting of how many UK premises have access to a gigabit-capable service. Further details on the methodology are available in Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2023 Methodology document.

BDUK products use different eligibility criteria. Most notably we include ‘child’ premises (e.g. apartments in houses of multiple occupancy) in scope of our programmes. Our figures reflect the full scope of our programmes rather than the Ofcom Connected Nations premises base.

For approximately 68,000 of the premises passed by BDUK, we can not confirm whether they were premises that form part of the Ofcom premises base, primarily due to data gaps at UPRN level. To estimate the total number of Ofcom premises passed by BDUK we assume that this group of unknown premises has the same percentage split between Ofcom and wider premises as for the group where it is known, grouped by product and delivery year.

We estimate the premises passed within the Ofcom premises base by calculating the percentage of verified premises passed UPRNs that are in the Ofcom premises base, stratified by product and delivery year, and then multiply this percentage by the total premises passed for that product and delivery year. These estimates are then summed to give the total estimated delivery in the Ofcom premises base.