A new survey of 427 small UK business owners, which was conducted by business focused broadband ISP bOnline in the late June to mid-July 2024 period, has found that 70% of respondents either don’t know if Openreach’s (BT) gigabit-capable FTTP broadband network has reached their area or believe that it is not yet available.
At present Openreach are busy investing up to £15bn to ensure that 25 million premises are reached by their new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network by December 2026 (15 million have already been covered), which is then expected to reach up to 30 million premises by the end of 2030. But the new survey suggests that SME businesses are still confused or frustrated by this programme.
Indeed, of those surveyed, only 15% had been provisioned onto the new network and a staggering 23% are still operating on copper-based ADSL lines for their business internet activities. This is despite the fact that faster hybrid Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) networks are now available to around 98% of premises.
However, it should be said that there are some niche areas where ADSL remains faster than FTTC, and it’s also unclear whether the survey had a higher proportion of responses from rural businesses (ADSL is often more common in such areas). Not to mention that not all businesses need a superfast broadband service in order to function effectively.
A similar number (24%) believed they were on hybrid copper FTTC lines, with nearly a fifth simply not knowing. Indeed, the majority of business owners questioned (54%) were completely unaware that “ADSL lines would become redundant under BT’s Big Switch Off – believing it only impacts voice-calls“. The same survey noted that this would now complete in “January 2026“, although vulnerable users may have until 31st January 2027 (here).
The ADSL statement is incorrect because, for example, in the small number of areas where FTTC and FTTP can’t yet reach, Openreach will still have a replacement broadband-only SOADSL / SOTAP service for older lines – this comes without a phone (voice) service. But as ever, contact your ISP if you’re unsure and discuss with them first.
Anthony Karibian, CEO and founder of bOnline, said:
“Both the implementation and communications around BT’s FTTP roll-out and copper line removal have been appalling. Small business owners simply don’t accurately know what is going on. Effectively 85% of micro-businesses have no access to the FTTP network with many having to regularly contend with outdated ADSL or hybrid copper FTTC lines that deliver debilitating speeds of just 1-50Mbps.
And for the lucky few that are fortunate enough to be in areas where FTTP has been introduced, many (33%) are left frustrated when attempting to be provisioned onto it with 6-8 week delays being common. In the interim, small businesses are having to pay through their noses – and historically face twice yearly price hikes – to have their calls and data routed over substandard kit.
The long-term cost to UK plc is significant with the country’s next generation of businesses being left to stall in the digital slow-lane.”
The good news is that 72% of those surveyed either want to be on FTTP (50%), are currently trying (7%) or have already upgraded (15%) to the new network, with their desire to switch being said to reflect their frustrations with Britain’s current network options. But it’s a shame that the survey seemed to focus so much on Openreach’s roll-out, while forgetting that there’s a massive market of alternative networks out there too.