One quarter of UK premises connected to superfast broadband

Fibre cables

More than a quarter of all UK broadband connections are now superfast with the rollout of fibre broadband passing 1.5 million premises in the country.

The UK government said that 26 per cent of all UK connections are now superfast, up from just six per cent two years ago.

Since 2010, broadband speed have almost quadrupled from 5.2Mbps in May 2010 to 18.7Mbps in May 2014.

The fibre broadband rollout now covers 80 per cent of the UK and is expected to reach 95 per cent by 2017, according to the government. It said that many of the 44 projects across the UK that comprise the scheme are ahead of schedule.

"We know how important superfast broadband is to everyone, which is exactly why we are investing 1.7 billion in this remarkable project," says culture secretary Sajid Javid.

"Our transformation of the UK's digital landscape is progressing at an incredible rate and delivering a tremendous boost to the nation's economy."

The government said that more than 40,000 homes and businesses are being added each week, according to figures released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

"Reaching one and a half million premises ahead of schedule is a fantastic achievement, but there's still more to do," said Bill Murphy, BT's managing director of next generation access.

"The fibre broadband rollout is bringing really positive social and economic benefits to people all over the UK, and this programme is a great example of successful partnership between the private sector, local and national government."

Earlier in the week, the Scottish government said that 150,000 premises in Scotland had been connected via the Digital Scotland BDUK scheme, which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Rene Millman

Rene Millman is a freelance writer and broadcaster who covers cybersecurity, AI, IoT, and the cloud. He also works as a contributing analyst at GigaOm and has previously worked as an analyst for Gartner covering the infrastructure market. He has made numerous television appearances to give his views and expertise on technology trends and companies that affect and shape our lives. You can follow Rene Millman on Twitter.