OVER half of all households in the north can now access full-fibre broadband with monthly data use surging by 38 per cent since last year.
The latest Connected Nations report from Ofcom found 422,000 homes (56 per cent) can now connect to the full-fibre service, 190,000 more than last year.
It compares to rates of 16 per cent to 19 per cent across England, Scotland and Wales.
Ofcom’s report has revealed that the average download speed in Northern Ireland is now 64 Mbit/s, up from 55 Mbit/s in 2019.
The average monthly data usage is also significantly up in 2020, increasing from 322GB to 444 GB.
But there remains a sharp urban and rural divide when it comes to gigabit capable broadband in Northern Ireland. Some 71 per cent of urban premises have the option of connecting compared to just 17 per cent in rural locations.
Superfast broadband access (at least 30 Mbit/s) remained the same in 2020, with 89 per cent of premises able to connect.
Ofcom said just 65 per cent of premises capable of signing up for a superfast connection or above have done so, with just 11 per cent taking advantage of their full-fibre line.
One-in-five (19 per cent) of rural businesses and households are still unable to access speeds of more than 10 Mbit/s.
This year saw Openreach, Virgin Media and Fibrus make significant in-roads in full-fibre connectivity across the north.
Virgin turned on its gigabit service for almost 400,000 homes in November, while Openreach expects to reach 60 per cent of premises in the north by March 2021.
Last month also saw Fibrus win a £165m government contract that will seek to connect 76,000 premises to full-fibre broadband, many of them in rural areas.
However, it will still leave around 3,000 premises unable to get a superfast service.
Fermanagh and Omagh has the lowest full-fibre connectivity, which just 25 per cent able to access the service. The district has much higher rate for superfast broadband (over 30 Mbit/s).
But at 68 per cent, it remains well below all other districts. The next lowest is Mid Ulster (77 per cent) and Newry, Mourne and Down (83 per cent).
In terms of mobile coverage, 65 per cent of indoor premises in the north can access 4G coverage, according to Ofcom. It said mobile voice coverage now extends to 87 per cent of Northern Ireland.
