BDUK's latest figures: 1.46 million premises now upgraded under public gigabit programmes
BDUK's Q2 2026 report shows 46,300 more premises got gigabit-capable broadband from public subsidy this spring — 90% of them rural, led by North Yorkshire.
The government’s Building Digital UK agency has published its calendar Q2 2026 progress report, and the headline number is now 1,462,910 premises given gigabit-capable broadband through public subsidy since the programmes began — up from 1,418,410 in March 2026. That’s 46,300 premises connected between April and June 2026, a 3% increase on the same quarter last year.
The report covers BDUK’s whole subsidised gigabit effort — not just Project Gigabit contracts, but also the older Superfast Broadband Programme, the GigaHubs/LFFN hubs scheme, and gigabit vouchers. But the direction of travel is clear: Project Gigabit’s main Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) contracts delivered 87% of the quarter’s connections (40,230 premises), with vouchers contributing 8% (3,580) and old Superfast interventions 5% (2,490). The Hubs programme has finished its delivery phase.
Where the connections landed
90% of the quarter’s connections were rural — 41,490 out of 46,300 premises — which is the point of the programme: these are the addresses commercial builders skip. By local authority, North Yorkshire led with 2,910 premises, followed by Wiltshire (2,160) and Somerset (1,820).
Across the whole cumulative total, the rural/urban split is telling: 1,199,050 rural premises versus 262,790 urban. And 868,550 of the total had no access to even a superfast (30Mbps+) connection before the upgrade — the programme is overwhelmingly reaching genuinely left-behind addresses. Contractors like GoFibre, now pushing a £105m build into six more North East villages, are delivering the GIS contracts behind these figures.
The regional breakdown to 30 June 2026:
- England: 1,030,640 (South West leads the English regions at 203,940)
- Scotland: 159,560
- Wales: 141,620
- Northern Ireland: 130,870
Within the GIS/Project Gigabit contracts alone, 249,660 contracted premises have now been delivered — up from 210,520 in March.
What it means for rural readers
Two caveats are worth keeping in mind. First, most UK gigabit coverage still comes from commercial builds — BDUK’s programmes are the top-up for the hardest bits, and national gigabit availability is now above 91%. Second, the figures exclude Scottish contracts where BDUK isn’t the lead authority, so Scotland’s subsidised totals are slightly understated here. We cover each week’s developments in the rural broadband roundup.
The bigger picture: Project Gigabit has committed most of its budget through 2032, some contracts are still to be awarded, and a few altnets have scaled back or handed contracts to other suppliers — a reality the report’s GIS numbers reflect. But 46,300 premises a quarter, nine in ten of them rural, is steady progress on the bit of the rollout that commercial fibre simply won’t do on its own. The numbers land days after the new telecoms minister’s first speech recommitted the government to 99% gigabit coverage by 2032.
More on this topic: all UK Broadband stories
