UK broadband enjoys a record-breaking 2023

Broadband use across the UK increased by 9 per cent last year, according to Openreach.

It’s the most comprehensive data available from Openreach, which builds and maintains the fibre network used by customers from hundreds of broadband providers, including BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, and Zen.

According to Openreach’s much-anticipated annual update, broadband traffic across the UK increased by around 9%[1] during 2023 to 94,722 Petabytes[2] (PB) of data.

Closer examination of the numbers shows that peaks tend to be focussed on specific online events such as Amazon Prime’s Premier League coverage, and the release of downloads for popular gaming titles including Call of Duty.

There was a real surge in broadband use towards the end of the year, with December being the busiest month of 2023 for broadband traffic, and Boxing Day the busiest day.

And with Openreach’s full fibre broadband network now available to more than 12.5 million premises – check to see if you’re one of those who can already get it – further jumps in data are expected.

Full fibre allows households to easily use multiple devices at once, streaming 4k and 8k sports and movies without any buffering or drop in performance.

Trevor Linney, Director of Network Technology, is ready for future increases: “Our network has once again performed the important role of keeping the UK connected throughout 2023, both at home and at work. We’re seeing a real pattern starting to emerge in these annual reports, with live sports and gaming at the heart of huge jumps in data usage.

“We believe that our insights are some of the best and most comprehensive available. The Openreach network is the biggest in the UK, and we carry broadband traffic for hundreds of broadband companies. This gives us the full picture.

“As always, the real good news is that our network always stands up to the test. We have a team of experts working hard to make sure there’s enough capacity for every eventuality.  

“They’re there day and night, throughout the year, constantly looking out for what the next big broadband traffic day could be.”

Key findings for the UK’s broadband use during 2023 include:

• The busiest day across the Openreach network was Tuesday 26 December (Boxing Day), when 342 PB of data was consumed. This was largely driven by the ongoing festivities, people using their broadband connections to stay in touch, set up new devices, watch movies, and boosted considerably by 5 Amazon Prime football matches, which were only available to watch online.
• The 2^nd busiest day was Wednesday 27 December, which continued the trend of the previous day with live football and ongoing celebrations across the UK. More than 330 PB of data was consumed across the Openreach network.
• The next busiest days were Thursday 28 December (319 PB) as festivities continued, and during November as popular gaming patches for titles including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III were released. More than 319 PB of data was downloaded on Sunday 19 November, closely following by 12 November when 313 PB of data was consumed.
• The busiest months in 2023 were December (8,944 PB), November (8,289 PB), and October (8,251 PB).
• The busiest day of the week is typically a Sunday.
• The busiest time on the network is usually between 8pm and 9pm, but this can be extended from 7pm through to 10pm.
• The busiest hour for broadband consumption during 2023, and indeed ever, was between 8pm and 9pm on Wednesday 6 November when Amazon Prime screened 6 Premier League matches. 29.5 Petabytes of data was used by the UK, the average for that hour would normally be around 21 PB.
• The busiest hour during the festive period was between 9pm and 10pm on Thursday 28 December, when 27.1 PB was used.
• Online gaming continues to have a significant impact on the UK’s broadband consumption. For example, many of the busiest days of the year coincide with popular downloads for Call of Duty.

Openreach has already made Full Fibre broadband available to more than 12.5 million homes and businesses across the UK, as part of an overall plan to reach 25 million UK premises by the end of 2026.

Customers can check if the build has reached their area yet or what the latest plans are at openreach.com. Those who’re able to order a full fibre service will need to contact their service provider to request an upgrade.

[1] Openreach now includes full fibre data as well as superfast in the 2023 totals. After retrospectively adding full fibre to the 2022 network totals, our data shows an 9% increase from 2022 to 2023.

[2] One Petabyte equals one million Gigabytes and on average a 4K quality movie stream uses about 7.2 Giga Bytes per hour.