Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has this week published a new interactive map that shows how broadband speed availability varies across the city by postcode and where improvements may be needed.
The map itself, which at the time of writing didn’t appear to bring up any results when we tried to input some example postcodes, is largely based on Ofcom’s most recent Connected Nations data from July 2024. The release appears to have been timed to coincide with yesterday’s meeting of London’s Economy, Culture and Skills Committee, which heard “evidence on the work being done to improve London’s broadband speeds, the challenges of this, and the impact improved broadband speeds would have on London’s economy“.
According to the latest data from Thinkbroadband, some 98.70% of premises can access a fixed 30Mbps+ “superfast broadband” service in London, which falls to 91.58% for gigabit (1000Mbps+) lines or 72.90% when only looking at full fibre (FTTP). Suffice to say, while fixed broadband coverage across the city is fairly strong, there remain some well-known patches of poor connectivity that have yet to be resolved by commercial investment.
For those with an interest, we’ve previously written an article that examined some of the key reasons why major urban areas often struggle to achieve universal coverage (here), which is despite the fact that they’re normally assumed to be among the most attractive places for private investment to tackle. But the reality is often a lot more complex, and some areas can be particularly hard to upgrade.
The committee recognises that “there is still a small percentage of households in London which are not able to obtain a connection capable of delivering [30Mbps+] speeds“, let alone gigabit connectivity, and has set about trying to tackle that (not for the first time, we’ve seen numerous initiatives over the years).
The current standard for a fast broadband connection is referred to as “gigabit-capable” broadband, which means download speeds of at least one gigabit (1,000 megabits) per second (Mbps). The previous Government’s target was for gigabit-capable broadband to be available to 85 per cent of premises by 2025, and to be available nationwide (i.e., 99 per cent of premises) by 2030. According to the Office of Communications (Ofcom) data, as of 2024, 86.4 per cent of premises in London have gigabit-capable broadband.
Private investment in broadband is particularly low in South and East London, with 224,000 premises unable to obtain gigabit-capable broadband and 29,000 premises in ‘not spots’ (i.e., receiving less than 30 mbps). Areas with a higher proportion of flats/multi-dwelling units (MDUs) are also less likely to have good broadband connectivity.
The deployment of fibre-optic cable infrastructure in London is more costly compared to other parts of the country, and it is considered to be more challenging due to issues around legacy infrastructure. This is compounded by fragmentation of responsibilities between and within boroughs, posing a barrier to investment.
To deliver broadband to premises, providers also need the owner’s permission to carry out works, referred to as a “wayleave agreement”. Broadband providers have said that in the case of MDUs, owners can often be difficult to identify, unresponsive or reluctant to grant access. Openreach has reported there are over 800,000 flats in the UK where its fibre network is present in the street outside the building, but they cannot gain access to the property.
Slow broadband has a significant impact on London’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs): according to a 2024 analysis, SMEs are missing out on £28 billion in annual revenue due to slow and unreliable broadband.
The Mayor’s vision is for London to be the “best connected city in Europe, where affordable full fibre connections are available to all homes and businesses”. In 2017, the Mayor appointed the city’s first Chief Digital Officer, Theo Blackwell MBE, and established the Connected London team to work with boroughs and providers to better coordinate digital infrastructure providers and enable investment into fibre infrastructure in underserved areas.
Issues for Consideration
The overall purpose of the Committee’s meeting is to:
• Assess to what extent poor broadband connectivity remains an issue in London;
• Understand the main causes for poor broadband connectivity in London;
• Understand who is likely to be affected by poor broadband connectivity;
• Assess the impact of poor broadband connectivity on London’s households and businesses; and
• Understand what action national and local government and the Mayor can take to ensure all of London’s households and businesses can access fast and reliable broadband internet.
Readers can watch a video of the meeting online, although only time will tell whether this produces any effective solutions. City authorities are often limited in their ability to call on public funding to help resolve such issues. This is because state aid rules and related value for money exercises often conclude, understandably, that dense urban locations should be upgradable using private funding. Using public money might also be considered anti-competitive in an environment where several operators are likely to be playing, although voucher schemes can help to skirt around such rules, but they can only go so far.
UPDATE 5:25pm
Correction. It was the Mayor of London, not the London Assembly, that actually posted the map (both share the same website).