A report by UK communications regulator Ofcom claims that more than eight million UK homes can now access full-fibre broadband, although only a fraction of them have so far upgraded.

In fact, a significant number pay over-the-odds for slower broadband speeds and many continue to do so even though they are out of contract.

Ofcom states that only two million homes currently subscribe to the fastest speeds (up to 1-gig) - approximately 24 per cent of homes that are capable.

However, as we have been covering on Pocket-lint, it's only recently that Virgin Media O2 completed the rollout of its gigabit broadband service to cover its entire network. Those numbers are more than likely set to accelerate in 2022.

Certainly, ultrafast broadband will be in demand - Ofcom also found that the average monthly data use per household rose to 453GB in 2021. That's more than trebled in five years.

Sadly, around 125,000 homes in the country still cannot access "decent broadband speeds" of even 10Mbps download and 1Mbps up.

Also mentioned in the report is that 5G coverage across the UK rose by 37 per cent in the last year, with access now available across half the country's homes. That's not to say it's being used yet, however - Ofcom claims that 5G only accounts for 3 per cent of data usage.