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Full-fibre networks are reaching an increasing proportion of businesses, gigabit-capable connectivity is becoming more widely available, and the retirement of the UK's legacy telephone network is creating another reason for organisations to review their communications infrastructure.
But there is an important distinction between availability and adoption.
Ofcom's latest SME-specific figures show that 78% of UK SMEs had access to a full-fibre network in July 2025, an increase of 15 percentage points from July 2024. The regulator also reported that 84% of SMEs had access to a gigabit-capable network.
Source: Ofcom, Connected Nations UK Report 2025.
At the same time, Ofcom's wider analysis shows that customers do not necessarily adopt full fibre as soon as it becomes available. Across properties, full-fibre take-up was 14% where the service had been available for a year or less, rising to 55% where it had been available for more than three years.
Source: Ofcom, Connected Nations UK Report 2025.
That creates an interesting question for the business broadband market:
As infrastructure becomes more widely available, how quickly are businesses changing what they actually buy?
To explore the business side of that question, we analysed 6,006 business broadband contracts processed through its platform during 2025 and 2026. The dataset provides a snapshot of supplier distribution within our activity and is considered alongside official industry data from Ofcom and Openreach.
Key Findings
- 6,006 business broadband contracts analysed using internal data.
- 78% of UK SMEs had access to full fibre in July 2025, up 15 percentage points from July 2024.
- 14% vs 55%: Ofcom found full-fibre take-up was 14% where the service had been available for a year or less, compared with 55% where it had been available for more than three years.
- 500,000+ business premises were still served by lines on the legacy PSTN network in February 2026, according to Openreach.
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Full fibre is now available to most UK SMEs
The most important change in the business broadband market is the scale of the network rollout.
Ofcom's 2025 Connected Nations report found that 78% of UK SMEs had access to full fibre in July 2025, up from 63% a year earlier. The regulator defines SMEs in its analysis using the number of employees on site and separately reports coverage for micro, small and medium-sized businesses.
Coverage was not uniform.
In July 2025, Ofcom reported full-fibre availability to:
|
UK SMEs overall |
78% |
| Micro businesses | 78% |
| Small businesses | 74% |
| Medium-sized businesses | 73% |
| England | 79% |
| Northern Ireland | 89% |
| Scotland | 69% |
| Wales | 71% |
Source: Ofcom, Connected Nations UK Report 2025, July 2025 data.
Ofcom also found a substantial difference between urban and rural SME coverage. Across the UK, full-fibre availability stood at 81% for urban SMEs compared with 58% for rural SMEs.
That distinction is important because a national coverage figure cannot tell an individual business what it can order at its own premises.
For an SME, the relevant question is not simply: How much full fibre is available in the UK?
It is: What connectivity is available at my business address today?
Availability does not mean immediate adoption
The most revealing part of Ofcom's data is what happens after a network becomes available.
The regulator found a clear relationship between the length of time full fibre had been available at a property and the proportion of properties that had adopted it.
Where full fibre had been available for:
- One year or less: 14% had taken a full-fibre service
- More than one year, up to two years: 30%
- More than two years, up to three years: 41%
- More than three years: 55%
Source: Ofcom, Connected Nations UK Report 2025.
The analysis is not an SME-only measure, so it should not be presented as an SME adoption rate.
But it provides an important piece of context for the business market: network rollout and customer adoption do not happen simultaneously.
A new network may become available months or years before a customer changes service.
That is understandable in a business environment.
Connectivity contracts have fixed terms; companies may have existing equipment and processes built around their current connection, and a service that continues to meet operational requirements may not create an immediate reason to change.
This means that infrastructure can move significantly faster than purchasing behaviour.
Most popular business broadband providers
Our dataset provides a separate view of the market: the suppliers represented in contracts processed through its platform.
The supplier distribution was:
| BT | 73.9% |
| Virgin Media | 16.4% |
| Daisy Communications | 9.5% |
| Vodafone | 0.1% |
These figures should not be interpreted as UK-wide market share.
The dataset represents business broadband contracts processed by us rather than every SME broadband contract in the country. It is therefore best understood as a snapshot of the supplier landscape within our own activity.
The concentration is nevertheless notable.
Almost three-quarters of the contracts in the dataset were with BT, while Virgin Media and Daisy Communications accounted for most of the remainder.
That does not indicate that one supplier is objectively better or worse than another. It simply shows that established provider relationships remain significant within this sample, even as the wider infrastructure market becomes more diverse.
There are practical reasons why business connectivity decisions can be more complex than simply choosing the fastest available service.
Broadband may sit alongside hosted telephony, cloud applications, payment systems, security equipment, remote access and other operational technology.
A change in connectivity can therefore involve installation, compatibility, support and continuity considerations as well as price and speed.
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The end of a contract is becoming a more important decision point
As the infrastructure landscape changes, the end of an existing broadband contract becomes more significant.
Ofcom requires providers to tell customers when their minimum contract period is approaching its end and provide information about their best available deals. Notifications must generally be sent between 10 and 40 days before the contract ends, while customers who are already out of contract must receive annual reminders.
Ofcom's research has also found evidence that these notifications can encourage customers to secure better deals. Its analysis of broadband contract renewals found that customers who responded to end-of-contract notifications were more likely to move to new deals, with some securing significant savings. The research was not SME-specific, so it should be treated as wider broadband market evidence rather than a measure of business savings.
For a business, the value of reviewing a contract goes beyond price.
- A renewal review can establish whether:
- full fibre has become available since the existing service was installed
- the business now relies more heavily on cloud-based applications
- bandwidth requirements have changed
- resilience or support requirements have changed
- other communications or connected systems need to be upgraded
The objective does not have to be changing provider.
It is making sure the connectivity decision still reflects the business's requirements and the infrastructure now available.
The location of the business matters
National broadband statistics can give a misleading impression of how much choice an individual company has.
Ofcom's SME figures demonstrate significant variation between the UK's nations and between urban and rural businesses. In July 2025, full-fibre access for SMEs ranged from 89% in Northern Ireland to 69% in Scotland, while urban SME coverage across the UK was 81% compared with 58% in rural areas.
This is why the postcode is increasingly relevant to business broadband decisions.
A company may have more options available today than when it signed its current contract. Another business in a different area may still face a much narrower set of choices.
Historic research therefore has a limited shelf life.
For businesses reviewing connectivity, the address needs to be checked using current availability data, rather than relying on what was available during the previous contract cycle.
The 2027 PSTN retirement adds another reason to review communications
Full-fibre rollout is not the only major change affecting business connectivity.
The UK's legacy Public Switched Telephone Network is due to be retired by 31 January 2027, as providers move from analogue to digital phone services.
Openreach reported in February 2026 that roughly 2.8 million lines remained on the PSTN network, with more than half a million serving business premises.
That makes the transition a particularly relevant issue for SMEs.
The change is not simply about replacing an analogue telephone.
Businesses may also need to identify equipment that relies on traditional telephone connectivity, including some alarm systems, access-control equipment, payment devices, monitoring systems and other legacy technology.
Openreach recommends that businesses establish what equipment depends on the existing network and ensure that replacement arrangements are in place before the relevant service is withdrawn.
The January 2027 deadline therefore provides a useful trigger for a wider communications review.
A business that needs to replace a legacy phone service may also discover that the broadband infrastructure available at its premises has changed since the existing contract began.
What the data does and doesn't tell us
The evidence points to a clear market trend, but it does not provide one simple explanation for business broadband behaviour.
Ofcom's data shows that full-fibre availability for UK SMEs has expanded rapidly, reaching 78% in July 2025.
Its wider adoption analysis shows that take-up tends to increase the longer full fibre has been available.
Our 6,006-contract dataset shows that established providers remain prominent within their own business broadband activity.
But none of those sources can establish precisely why an individual business does or does not upgrade.
The decision may depend on contract timing, price, availability, operational requirements, existing equipment, perceived risk or simply whether the current connection continues to meet the business's needs.
The data is therefore best understood as evidence of market direction, rather than a single explanation for individual purchasing decisions.
The next phase of the UK's broadband story
The first phase of the UK's full-fibre rollout was largely about building the infrastructure.
The next phase is increasingly about adoption.
For SMEs, full fibre is now available across much of the country. Yet availability continues to vary by location and business size, while adoption takes time after infrastructure reaches a premises.
At the same time, the retirement of the UK's legacy telephone network means many businesses will have another reason to examine their communications infrastructure before January 2027.
When contract renewal is coming up, the question for businesses should be:
- What has changed since we last looked?
- Has full fibre become available?
- Have the business's connectivity requirements changed?
- Are there new options at the premises?
- Are any legacy systems still dependent on infrastructure that is being retired?
Our analysis of 6,006 business broadband contracts provides one snapshot of the market during this transition. The wider Ofcom and Openreach data shows why that snapshot matters: the infrastructure available to UK businesses is changing rapidly, while purchasing decisions naturally follow contracts, operational requirements and the pace at which businesses review their technology.
The result is a market where availability can change faster than purchasing decisions.
For SMEs, the opportunity is not to change connectivity for the sake of it. It is to make sure the decision being made today is based on what is actually available today.
call our broadband experts 01613 022466