79.8% of homes and businesses in Essex can get full fibre broadband, below the UK figure of 81%. That's up 8.3 points in a year: 75,915 more premises can now order it. 4,124 still can't get 10 Mbit/s from a fixed line.
Fastest download speed available, share of all 877,239 premises (homes and businesses), January 2026.
Share of premises that can order full fibre (and gigabit, which also counts cable).
Full fibre Gigabit-capable (incl. cable)
| Essex | England | UK | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full fibre | 79.8% | 81.3% | 81% |
| Gigabit-capable | 88.2% | 88.4% | 87.8% |
| Superfast (30 Mbit/s+) | 98.3% | 97.8% | 97.7% |
| Can't get 10 Mbit/s | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.7% |
126,744 of 917,540 premises in BDUK's records (13.8%) can't get a gigabit-capable connection yet. Here's what's planned for them.
Contracted build here is due to finish by March 2032.
Ranked by full fibre coverage. UK rank is out of 361 council areas.
| Southend-on-Sea | 97.6% | 98.3% | +0.5 | 10 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braintree | 90.3% | 90.3% | +1.2 | 418 | 71 |
| Rochford | 89.9% | 89.9% | +11.9 | 38 | 73 |
| Thurrock | 85.3% | 92.8% | +7.5 | 415 | 134 |
| Castle Point | 85.1% | 89.2% | +37.3 | 43 | 136 |
| Brentwood | 84.7% | 84.7% | +2.8 | 164 | 138 |
| Maldon | 82.2% | 82.2% | +0.1 | 208 | 169 |
| Chelmsford | 81.1% | 87.9% | +5.9 | 446 | 182 |
| Tendring | 79.4% | 79.4% | +2.3 | 231 | 197 |
| Uttlesford | 76.2% | 82.9% | +11.2 | 570 | 230 |
| Basildon | 74.3% | 91.3% | +3.7 | 189 | 257 |
| Epping Forest | 73.1% | 88.1% | +7.1 | 307 | 266 |
| Colchester | 68% | 82.2% | +14.1 | 644 | 303 |
| Harlow | 41.9% | 90.9% | +28.5 | 441 | 356 |
79.8% of premises in Essex could order full fibre in January 2026, and 88.2% could get gigabit speeds (full fibre or cable). Coverage varies street by street, so check your postcode.
Full fibre coverage in Essex went from 71.5% in January 2025 to 79.8% in January 2026: 75,915 more premises.
4,124 premises in Essex (0.5%) can't get 10 Mbit/s download speeds from a fixed line, and 659 can't get what Ofcom calls decent broadband from a fixed line or fixed wireless.
About 46% of premises that can get full fibre in Essex have taken it up. The rest are still on older copper or cable lines, often paying similar prices for slower speeds.
126,744 premises in Essex can't get gigabit broadband yet. 28,610 are in a provider's own build plans, 18,102 are in a government Project Gigabit contract due to finish by March 2032, and 80,032 have no plan yet (May 2026). Enter your postcode above to see what's planned where you live.
Southend-on-Sea has the highest full fibre coverage in Essex (97.6%) and Harlow the lowest (41.9%).
99.7% of premises in Essex have outdoor 5G coverage from at least one mobile network (Ofcom, high-confidence predictions, January 2026). 4G indoors from all four networks reaches 87.8%.