Broadband use across the UK increased by 10.5% last year, according to network provider Openreach.

In its annual update, Openreach revealed that broadband traffic across the country increased to 103,590 petabytes (Pb) of data, with numbers peaking in line with major events, such as Amazon Prime’s Premier League coverage, the release of popular gaming downloads like Fortnite, and millions going online for Black Friday.

The figures show a surge in broadband use towards the end of 2024, with December being the busiest month of the year for broadband traffic, and Sunday 1st December the busiest day, when 405 Pb of data was consumed.

Data use was shown to have increased significantly over the previous year, with December accounting for 9,707 Pb, an 8.5% rise on 2023, while November saw 8,953 Pb used – an 8% increase.

“Fast, reliable connectivity is essential for the UK, and the increased traffic on our broadband network is evidence that customers are increasingly reliant on it in their daily lives,” said Clive Selley, Openreach CEO.

Earlier this week, Openreach claimed that demand for its Full Fibre network is surging, with orders reportedly increasing by 26% in the last year – resulting in 68,000 orders every week.

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The Openreach network now reaches more than half of homes and businesses in the UK, around 17 million premises, with the company claiming it provides online access to 4.3 million properties in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

In 2024 alone, the company said it had extended coverage to an additional 4.2 million premises, and reaches 78,000 new premises every week, equivalent to a city the size of Peterborough.

“We’re building and connecting people faster than ever before and I’m proud of the progress our engineers have made,” said Selley.

“We’re well on our way to delivering our ambition of reaching 25 million homes and businesses by the end of 2026, and now our sights are set on reaching 30 million premises by the end of 2030.”