Ofcom finds 500,000 UK homes have fibre broadband

Half a million UK households are signed up to fibre optic broadband, according to Ofcom.

The regulator's latest Communications Market Report showed around 500,000 homes are connected to a super-fast broadband service offering speeds of 30Mbps or higher, representing a five-fold increase on the figure recorded in 2010.

Fibre broadband is now available to 57 per cent of residential properties, either through BT's Infinity product or Virgin Media's cable broadband network.

BT's financial results for the three months to June 30th 2011 showed the customer base of its next-generation internet service now stands at more than 200,000.

According to Ofcom, 80 per cent of people with super-fast broadband access are satisfied with the technology, while 33 per cent said the download speeds of these connections have surpassed their expectations.

"Ofcom's 2011 Communications Market Report shows the influence that communications technology now has on our daily lives and on the way we behave and communicate with each other," said the watchdog's director of research James Thickett.