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<p>DCMS remains committed to encouraging as much commercial build as possible, while
using the £5bn Project Gigabit to fund build in areas that are not commercially viable
for suppliers to connect. The government’s target, laid out in the National Infrastructure
Strategy published last year, is for 85% of UK premises to have gigabit capable connectivity
by 2025. Our current analysis expects commercial suppliers to connect at least 80%
of UK premises, with Project Gigabit delivering at least a further 5% in this timeframe.</p><p><strong>
</strong></p><p>A key component of Project Gigabit are the pre-procurement processes
(Open Market Reviews / Public Reviews) to survey the market on their commercial build
plans ahead of our major procurements. These will help us to identify premises in
every part of the UK that the market does not intend to target commercially. This
ensures that public money is not being used to subsidise gigabit capable connections
that we know would otherwise be supplied commercially, which would limit the funding
available for Project Gigabit to subsidise homes and businesses that are genuinely
uncommercial.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>DCMS will be continually monitoring the
market’s progress against their commercial build so we will be able to react to any
changes in their plans and update the targeting of our interventions to ensure they
remain focused on the areas that need our support.</p><p> </p>
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