United Kingdom - Broadband - Fixed Network Overview, Statistics & Forecasts

Synopsis

The UK has an excellent broadband infrastructure, with comprehensive DSL availability complemented by cable networks reaching about half of all households. The market is fiercely competitive, largely as a result of regulatory measures to provide competitor access to British Telecom’s exchanges. In recent years broadband has been characterised by falling prices and a migration to higher speed services: 8Mb/s DSL is available in most areas of the country while Virgin Media provides 50Mb/s across much of its footprint service and BT has plans for an FttC/VDSL service covering 40% of the population. This report profiles the overall UK broadband market in 2010, covering broadband technologies and including the latest statistics, an update on recent commercial initiatives, an assessment of Next Generation Access, and forecasts to 2019.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
  
• 2. Overview
  
  • 2.1.1 Broadband statistics
    
  • 2.2 Emerging trends
    
  • 2.3 Super-fast broadband
    
  • 2.4 Government support
    
    • 2.4.1 National target set
      
    • 2.4.2 Digital Britain
      
    • 2.4.3 Wholesale broadband
      
    • 2.4.4 Next Generation Access
      
    • 2.4.5 Access to cable networks
      
• 3. Cable modems
  
• 4. Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
  
  • 4.1 BT products
    
  • 4.2 Broadband consumer access
    
    • 4.2.1 Faster
      
    • 4.2.2 Cheaper
      
  • 4.3 Broadband providers
    
  • 4.4 ADSL2+
    
    • 4.4.1 Providers
      
  • 4.5 SDSL
    
  • 4.6 Very High Data Rate DSL (VDSL)
    
• 5. Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH) networks
  
  • 5.1 Costing fibre
    
  • 5.2 Fibre access and Community Broadband Access networks
    
  • 5.3 BT
    
  • 5.4 Other developments
    
• 6. Broadband Powerline (BPL)
  
  • 6.1 Broadband over the Electricity Network (BoEN)
    
  • 6.2 Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE)
    
• 7. Forecasts – broadband subscribers – 2007 - 2012; 2018
  
  • 7.1 Scenario 1 – higher broadband subscriber growth
    
  • 7.2 Scenario 2 – lower broadband subscriber growth
    
  • 7.3 Notes on scenario forecasts
    
• 8. Related reports
  

• Table 1 – Broadband retail revenue – 2003 - 2008
• Table 2 – Broadband connections by type – 2002 - 2009
• Table 3 – Internet connections by consumer group – 2003 - 2008
• Table 4 – Market share of broadband subscribers by type – 2002 - 2008
• Table 5 – Broadband availability by households – 2000 - 2009
• Table 6 – Share of broadband subscribers by ISP – 2005 - 2009
• Table 7 – Broadband penetration by technology – 2004 - 2008
• Table 8 – Total broadband subscribers by type – 2004 - 2009
• Table 9 – Broadband subscribers by type – incumbent or other provider – 2007 - 2009
• Table 10 – Percentage Internet access by dial-up and broadband – 2000 - 2009
• Table 11 – PC, broadband and Internet household penetration – 2000 - 2009
• Table 12 – Value of e-commerce sales – 2007 - 2012
• Table 13 – BT Openreach WRL lines – 2007 - 2009
• Table 14 – Virgin Media subscribers by sector – 2007 - 2009
• Table 15 – Virgin Media ARPU – 2007 - 2009
• Table 16 – Virgin Media broadband subscribers by speed of service – 2007 - 2009
• Table 17 – Virgin Media proportion of broadband subscribers by speed of service – 2008 - 2009
• Table 18 – Virgin Media financial data – 2007 - 2009
• Table 19 – Virgin Media revenue growth by sector – 2008 - 2009
• Table 20 – xDSL subscribers – 2000 - 2009
• Table 21 – BT retail and wholesale broadband subscribers – 2004 - 2009
• Table 22 – Forecast broadband subscribers – higher market growth scenario – 2007 - 2012; 2019
• Table 23 – Forecast broadband subscribers – lower market growth scenario – 2007 - 2012; 2019

• Exhibit 1 – BT’s wholesale DSL products
• Exhibit 2 – Estimated cost of fibre by deployment technology – 2009