Satellite internet in the UK: Ofcom now counts Starlink as the answer

Ofcom, Connected Nations update: Spring 2026, published 13 May 2026, reporting data as at January 2026. “Decent” is defined by the Universal Service Obligation as at least 10 Mbit/s down and 1 Mbit/s up. Note the two rows are different questions: 39,000 premises have no decent fixed or wireless option; only 4,000 have no affordable option at all once satellite is counted.

The USO gives you a right to request a connection of at least 10 Mbit/s down and 1 Mbit/s up. It falls on BT across the UK, and on KCOM in Hull. But it is not automatic — eligibility turns on affordability, and affordability has a specific threshold.

In a footnote to the Spring 2026 update, Ofcom sets it out: premises could be eligible for the USO “if they cannot access decent broadband for less than £59.60/month”. That is the line. If a decent connection — including satellite — is available to you under it, the obligation on BT does not engage.

Which is exactly why cheaper Starlink plans moved the number. Starlink did not have to get faster to change the regulatory picture. It had to get under £59.60.

Footnote 4, Connected Nations update Spring 2026. Ofcom also notes roughly 7,000 additional premises classified as commercial that could be eligible on the same test, excluded from its estimate because some may already have leased-line connectivity.

This is the part every guide skips. It is a legal right, it is industry-funded, and it has three tests and one trap.

You are eligible if all three are true: you cannot get an affordable decent connection from any existing network — fixed, wireless or satellite; and your property is not due to be connected by a publicly funded scheme within twelve months; and the cost of building your connection can be met. Request it from BT, or KCOM if you are in Hull. They have 30 days to confirm eligibility and quote you.

The trap: £3,400

If building your connection costs £3,400 or less, you pay nothing for the work. Above that, you pay the excess if you still want it. That sounds generous until you see the quotes: applicants in the most remote parts of the country have been quoted over £500,000, and Ofcom opened an investigation into whether BT was calculating those excess costs correctly at all.

Two things soften it. Costs can be shared across multiple premises — neighbours can club together, and Ofcom’s rules require BT to apportion shared infrastructure on the assumption that 70% of eligible premises in an area will eventually connect. And where mobile coverage is good, BT will often offer a 4G home router instead of a fibre build, typically delivering around 30 Mbit/s.

What “decent” legally means — and it is more than a speed

The last four are the ones nobody quotes, and they matter here: a 100 GB floor and a latency test are exactly the criteria a satellite service has to clear, and they are why the USO spec is not simply “10 megabits”. The affordability threshold has risen over time — it was £45, then £46.10, and Ofcom’s current figure is £59.60.

And if BT says no, you can argue. You have free access to alternative dispute resolution if a complaint is unresolved after eight weeks or reaches deadlock — and you do not need to be a BT or KCOM customer to challenge an eligibility decision.

Eligibility, thresholds and the technical specification are from Ofcom’s broadband USO guidance and its consultation on high excess costs; delivery obligations require BT to complete 80% of connections within 12 months, 95% within 18 and 99% within 24. The £500,000 quotes and the Ofcom investigation into BT’s excess-cost methodology were widely reported. Check bt.com/uso with your postcode — that is the only answer that applies to you.

Growth of more than a quarter in a year, and a majority of it rural. The figure that matters most for policy: more than 12,600 of those connections are in places that cannot get decent fixed-line or fixed-wireless broadband at all. That is the population the USO exists for, choosing satellite instead.

Ofcom, Connected Nations 2025, published 19 November 2025 on July 2025 data. Ofcom has authorised nine NGSO satellite licences to date, so Starlink is not the only permitted operator — it is simply the only one with a mass consumer base.

Here is the part that sits oddly with all of the above. Starlink is not subject to the same consumer protections as every other UK broadband provider. Ofcom’s General Conditions require complaints procedures, access to alternative dispute resolution, and One Touch Switching. UK ISPs comply because they must.

So the regulator is simultaneously counting Starlink as the thing that discharges a universal service obligation, and not requiring of it the protections that apply to the companies the obligation falls on. If your Starlink service fails, the escalation route an Openreach customer has does not exist for you.

We are not saying Ofcom is wrong. There is a real argument that a service nobody is compelled to provide should not carry the same obligations as one that is. But it is a genuine asymmetry, it is under-reported, and you should know about it before you rely on satellite as your only connection.

Check the USO first, before you buy anything. It is a legal right to request, industry-funded, and it may cost you far less than a satellite subscription. Eligibility turns on that £59.60 test — and on whether a connection is available to you at all.

Then check 4G and 5G fixed wireless. UK mobile coverage is better than most people assume: 84% of UK landmass has good 4G from all four operators, 96% from at least one, and 5G coverage outside premises now runs between 76% and 94% per operator. In much of rural England a fixed-wireless router is cheaper than a dish and does not need a clear view of the sky.

Then satellite. If you are in the genuine not-spots — and Scotland has 9,000 of the 39,000, Wales 6,000, against 23,000 in England — Starlink is now the practical answer, and Ofcom’s own numbers say so.

Mobile coverage figures from the same Spring 2026 update, at Ofcom’s High Confidence level. Nation split of the 39,000 as reported from Ofcom’s January 2026 data.