UK's flourishing fibre market is good news for household billsUK's flourishing fibre market is good news for household bills

According to its annual pricing trends report, the cost of a dual-play broadband and landline package offering a peak speed of 300 Mbps or more has fallen by 9% in real terms, while similar superfast (30 Mbps-299 Mbps) tariffs have come down by 7%.

Average promotional prices have also fallen, albeit not quite as far. Discounted ultrafast tariffs fell 8%, while for superfast they saw a decline of 3%.

Ofcom said ultrafast broadband deals are frequently cheaper from smaller providers. The promotional price of 900 Mbps-1 Gbps broadband from an independent full-fibre ISP starts at £26 per month, while the cheapest similar service from one of the big players like BT or Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) is £39 per month.

However, Ofcom also found that the average amount a household spends per month on either dual-play or triple-play services has gone up by 8%, as more and more of them make the switch to ultrafast broadband.

It's a testament to the UK's flourishing fibre market that end users can get ultrafast service at competitive prices.

As has been well-documented on Telecoms.com, BT Openreach, VMO2, and CityFibre are all pushing ahead with ambitious FTTH deployments of varying shapes and sizes, vying to become the scale player of choice – not just for their own end users, but for a growing number of retail ISPs as well. They are also up against a large number of smaller, specialist fibre operators that are either focused on a particular location or customer segment.

According to Ofcom's recently-published Connected Nations report, 69% of UK homes have access to full fibre broadband, up from 57% in 2023. As for take-up, it rose to 35% from 28% between May 2023 and July 2024.

The combination of economies of scale and competitive pressure seems to be working wonders for household budgets.

Meanwhile, mobile prices have also fallen in real terms, with the cost of an average tariff now 5% lower year-on-year.

The cost of SIM-only plans fell by between 1% and 11%, and Ofcom noted that the average punter saves £200 when they pay separately for a handset and a service plan, compared to people whose tariff includes both the device and network access.

"Today's report shows that mobile and broadband services in the UK remain competitively priced and generally compare favourably to other countries. With significant savings to be had, especially for the fastest packages, it's important as ever for customers to shop around," said Natalie Black, group director of networks and telecoms at Ofcom.

However, it seems a large swathe of the population is still paying over the odds.

There are now 30 different social tariffs to choose from in the UK, offering access to fixed broadband priced as low as £12 per month, and mobile plans starting at £10. Ofcom said 85 percent of fixed-line customers can sign up to a social tariff without having to switch provider or bear the cost of early termination fees.

While the number of eligible customers who have taken advantage of social tariffs has gone up considerably to 506,000 in June 2024 from 125,000 in September 2023, that still only amounts to 9.6 percent of all eligible customers.

Black said it is encouraging to see take-up moving in the right direction, "but with many more eligible customers unaware, there's still a job for communications providers to do to further promote this vital support."