Universal Service Obligation (USO)

The Universal Service Obligation (USO) gives people in the UK the right to request a decent and affordable broadband connection.

In order to ensure that Britain’s telecoms infrastructure is fit for the future and will continue to deliver the connectivity that consumers need in the digital age, the Government introduced the regulatory USO in 2017.

The USO is managed by Ofcom, who have appointed BT and KCOM as the providers. In East Sussex, BT provide the USO.

This means that eligible homes and businesses have the right to request a connection of minimum speeds of 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload regardless of where they live or work, if they currently cannot receive an affordable service from any existing networks, and where the build cost is no more than £3,400. Premises where build exceeds this amount will have to pay the excess costs themselves if they wish to proceed.

For further information see the Ofcom website:

BT broadband availability checker

You can use this checker to find out what speeds you can expect to achieve at your premises: