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1579634

registered interest
date	23/01/2023
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the need to accelerate the roll-out of high speed internet in rural communities.
tabling member constituency	Weaver Vale
tabling member printed	Mike Amesbury
uin	130022
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2023 answer text <p>Over 73% of premises in the UK can now access gigabit-capable broadband, which is a huge leap from January 2019, when coverage was just 6%. The competitive and pro-growth regulatory environment we have created is enabling suppliers to expand their networks to reach more homes and businesses, and we are making excellent progress with Project Gigabit, rolling out fast, reliable broadband to rural and hard-to-reach parts of the UK.</p><p>We are awarding a series of contracts to suppliers to deliver gigabit-capable connectivity to areas that the market will not go to without subsidy. We have already awarded six contracts and in total, we have made almost £1 billion of funding available through our live contracts and procurements, to cover up to 681,500 premises. We have also recently increased the maximum value of vouchers through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, to support suppliers to connect premises in particularly hard-to-reach areas.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 31/01/2023 09:10:57 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4667 label Biography information for Mike Amesbury

1505798

registered interest
date	07/09/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure access to full fibre broadband for all properties and businesses in rural communities.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL2272
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2022 answer text <p>In March 2021 we launched Project Gigabit, our £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK. Project Gigabit’s objective is to level up the UK by giving hard-to-reach areas access to gigabit-capable internet speeds and, coupled with commercial gigabit delivery, ensuring almost all of the UK has access to gigabit-capable internet as soon as possible.</p><p>Our Project Gigabit procurements are prioritising delivery to rural, hard-to-reach premises and to those with the lowest broadband speeds. We have recently signed our first local Project Gigabit contract in North Dorset and expect to award further contracts over the coming months.</p><p>Furthermore, up to £210 million is available for Gigabit Broadband Vouchers to support rural communities with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections.</p><p>Building Digital UK’s legacy and current programmes have already upgraded over 740,000 premises to gigabit speeds, and we are continuing to move at pace.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Kamall question first answered 22/09/2022 10:25:49 answering member 4909 label Biography information for Lord Kamall
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1503554

registered interest
date	02/09/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to (a) support and (b) accelerate the roll-out of (i) full-fibre broadband and (ii) 5g in rural communities.
tabling member constituency	Hitchin and Harpenden
tabling member printed	Bim Afolami
uin	45257
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2022 answer text <p>In March 2021 we launched Project Gigabit, our £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK. Project Gigabit’s objective is to level up the UK by giving hard-to-reach areas access to gigabit-capable internet speeds and, coupled with commercial gigabit delivery, ensuring almost all of the UK has access to gigabit-capable internet as soon as possible.</p><p>Our Project Gigabit procurements are prioritising delivery to rural, hard-to-reach premises and to those with the lowest broadband speeds. We have recently signed our first local Project Gigabit contract in North Dorset and expect to award further contracts over the coming months.</p><p>Furthermore, up to £210 million is available for Gigabit Broadband Vouchers, which are already helping communities that are not in line for commercial connections right now.</p><p>Building Digital UK’s legacy and current programmes have already upgraded over 740,000 hard-to-reach premises to gigabit speeds, and we are continuing to move at pace.</p><p>5G network rollout is a matter for industry, but we have seen good progress. Up to half of the properties in the UK are located in an area with outdoor 5G coverage available from at least one mobile network operator according to the latest statistics from communications regulator Ofcom.</p><p>We recently made reforms to the planning system to support the deployment of 5G and extend mobile coverage. The changes, which came into force on 4 April 2022, enable operators to upgrade existing sites for 5G and share infrastructure to improve mobile coverage, particularly in more rural areas. We are reducing further barriers to deployment by legislating to reform the Electronic Communications Code through the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill.</p><p>The Government is developing a Wireless Infrastructure Strategy to set out a strategic framework for the deployment and adoption of 5G, and within the Strategy we will be establishing a new ambition for 5G.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 20/09/2022 08:23:24 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4639 label Biography information for Bim Afolami

1460504

registered interest
date	26/04/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of rural communities’ access to reliable broadband on the fiscal wellbeing of businesses in those areas.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of St Albans
uin	HL7988
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/04/2022 answer text <p>Gigabit-capable networks can deliver the broadband services that businesses will rely on for decades to come, paving the way for new developments in commerce, trade and society and bringing benefits including improved productivity, jobs and economic growth</p><p>The <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1022091/Superfast_Broadband_summary_slidepack.pdf" target="_blank">2021 Evaluation of the Superfast Broadband Programme</a>, which primarily delivered broadband upgrades to rural areas, found that the programme has increased the annual turnover of local businesses by £1.9 billion per year. The report also highlights that the most commonly reported impacts of improved connections amongst businesses were enhanced customer services (72 per cent), using internet connected devices (55 per cent), cloud-based computing (51 per cent) and promoting flexible working (50 per cent).</p><p>The final evaluation of our Superfast Programme will be completed in 2022/23 and will add to our understanding of the economic impact of fast and reliable broadband for businesses operating in rural areas.</p> answering member printed Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay question first answered 27/04/2022 16:43:42 answering member 4728 label Biography information for Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
tabling member	4308 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of St Albans

1453666

registered interest
date	23/03/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that internet speeds in rural homes matches those in urban areas.
tabling member constituency	Sedgefield
tabling member printed	Paul Howell
uin	145995
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/03/2022 answer text <p>The Government is determined to deliver great connectivity to every community in the UK and is working to close the digital divide between rural, suburban, and urban areas. We are creating a competition-friendly environment to promote deployment in areas where this is commercially viable and we are investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit to support roll-out in less commercial locations, including rural areas. In three years national coverage has rocketed from six per cent to over 66 per cent and we have already upgraded 600,000 premises in hard-to-reach areas.</p><p>Our Project Gigabit procurements are prioritising delivery to rural, hard-to-reach premises and to those with the lowest broadband speeds. Broadband providers have so far been invited to bid for contracts worth up to £292 million to upgrade up to 187,000 premises across Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, Cambridgeshire, North Dorset and West Cornwall - with initial deployment expected to commence later this year.</p><p>As part of Project Gigabit the government is also investing up to £210 million in the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to support rural communities with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections. The scheme provides a micro-grant of up to £1,500 for residents and up to £3,500 for businesses towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband. Further information is available on the <a href="https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/" target="_blank">gigabit voucher website</a> including eligibility criteria and how to apply for the scheme.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 30/03/2022 08:28:19 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4830 label Biography information for Paul Howell

1387342

registered interest
date	13/12/2021
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of (a) broadband infrastructure and (b) 5G infrastructure on the rural landscape.
tabling member constituency	West Dorset
tabling member printed	Chris Loder
uin	92077
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2021 answer text <p>The Government is committed to providing necessary digital infrastructure across the UK to ensure that people and businesses have the connectivity they need, and in the years ahead.</p><p>Operators are required to minimise the visual impact of network infrastructure, particularly in more sensitive locations such as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Planning law also allows for local planning authorities to assess the visual impact of certain infrastructure, such as new masts, and decide whether it is appropriate for the proposed location.</p><p>The Government also supports the view that operators should use existing structures and buildings for hosting infrastructure, and share sites where possible, to reduce the environmental impact of installation.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 17/12/2021 15:25:01 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4751 label Biography information for Chris Loder

1364511

registered interest
date	28/10/2021
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their broadband strategy includes ensuring that customers in rural areas have a choice of broadband providers that are not dependent on the BT network.
tabling member printed	Lord Jones of Cheltenham
uin	HL3521
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2021 answer text <p>The Government wants to encourage competition and investment in the UK broadband market, as we have set out in our Statement of Strategic Priorities to Ofcom. As a result, there are now over 80 providers delivering gigabit broadband in the UK, providing real choice to consumers at both the wholesale and retail level.</p><p>Ofcom is responsible for regulating the level of competition in the market and has the power to intervene where necessary to reduce the barriers for entry to new providers. In the case of Openreach, Ofcom has designated that it holds Significant Market Power status, and has therefore introduced a number of remedies such as requiring Openreach to allow other providers to use its network of ducts and poles. These remedies are designed to enable competing providers to build their networks at a lower cost, which makes competition more likely.</p><p>The Government is investing £5 billion in Project Gigabit to ensure hard-to-reach areas where providers are not expected to deploy broadband commercially are not left behind. There is already significant interest in Project Gigabit: for example, Gigabit Vouchers have been extremely successful with over 70 telecoms providers currently actively building in challenging rural areas. Moreover, procurements funded by Project Gigabit will require network infrastructure to be open and accessible to third parties, such as communication providers, to provide competing retail offers to the consumer.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay question first answered 10/11/2021 15:54:15 answering member 4728 label Biography information for Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
tabling member	248 label Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham

1364154

registered interest
date	27/10/2021
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards providing superfast broadband to rural areas of (1) Gloucestershire, (2) Wiltshire, (3) Oxfordshire, and (4) Berkshire.
tabling member printed	Lord Jones of Cheltenham
uin	HL3483
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2021 answer text <p>The Government has made significant strides in helping to provide superfast broadband to people in rural areas. 97% of the UK now has access to at least 30 Mbps download speeds and this figure continues to rise. We are now investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit at the same time as commercial rollout so that rural communities are not left behind, prioritising areas with a relatively high proportion of premises without access to superfast speeds.</p><p>In Gloucestershire, 96% of premises can access superfast broadband (&gt; 30Mbps), compared with 89% in November 2019. Gloucestershire has also made good use of the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS), which helps communities and businesses living in rural areas not in line for commercial rollout or Government-funded projects to get more immediate help with the costs of installing gigabit. They have had 322 vouchers connected so far, with a further 190 awaiting connection with a combined total of £1.2 million.</p><p>In Oxfordshire, superfast is currently above the national average at 98%. The Better Broadband for Oxfordshire project, which ran from 2015 to 2018, helped to increase superfast coverage significantly during this period from 69% to 96%.</p><p>Superfast coverage in Berkshire is also above the national average at 98%, compared with 97% in November 2019. There are currently two live superfast contracts across Berkshire, which have so far delivered to over 36,000 premises.</p><p>In Wiltshire, 96% of premises can access superfast broadband, up from 94% in November 2019. One of two contracts delivering superfast broadband across Wiltshire has been completed, while the other has so far delivered to more than 2,000 premises. This brings the total number of premises delivered to over 77,000</p><p>A total of 594 vouchers have been provided to connect rural premises in Wiltshire as part of the GBVS, with 240 vouchers awaiting connection for a total value of £1.6 million.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay question first answered 10/11/2021 15:52:40 answering member 4728 label Biography information for Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
tabling member	248 label Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham

1347847

registered interest
date	16/07/2021
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the performance of high-speed broadband in rural areas; what steps they are taking to ensure that such services provide the advertised performance; whether they will provide compensation for those who have been advised to replace their old service and install a new one where that service does not meet advertised standards; and what steps they intend to take to support customers experiencing ongoing issues.
tabling member printed	Lord Vinson
uin	HL2131
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2021 answer text <p>Ofcom’s 2020 Connected Nations <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/209373/connected-nations-2020.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> shows that 99.4% of UK premises have access to decent broadband speeds (10 Mbps and over), and according to <a href="https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/uk" target="_blank">thinkbroadband.com</a> (<a href="https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/uk" target="_blank">https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/uk</a>) , 97% can get superfast speeds (24 Mbps and over). Ofcom’s 2021 report, UK Home Broadband Performance, which can be found here (<a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/telecoms-research/broadband-research/broadband-speeds/uk-home-broadband-performance-nov-2020" target="_blank">https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/telecoms-research/broadband-research/broadband-speeds/uk-home-broadband-performance-nov-2020</a>) showed that the average superfast speeds in rural areas was 44.2 Mbps, compared to 48.6 Mbps in urban areas in 2020.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In order to protect consumers, Ofcom has put in place voluntary broadband speeds Codes of Practice with industry, which can be viewed here (<a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/information-for-industry/codes-of-practice" target="_blank">https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/information-for-industry/codes-of-practice</a>). Signatories include BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk and Virgin Media. Those signed up to the Code of Practice are committed to having systems which can identify the cause of speed problems, and processes to ensure they are resolved. Furthermore, signatories must provide guaranteed minimum speeds to their customers, and if speeds drop below the promised levels, are required to improve performance within one month. If there is no improvement, consumers have the right to exit their contract without penalty. To ensure effectiveness of the code, Ofcom monitors compliance by the signatories, and where it finds issues, will engage with the provider to deliver prompt resolutions.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Barran question first answered 22/07/2021 12:47:37 answering member 4703 label Biography information for Baroness Barran
tabling member	1807 label Biography information for Lord Vinson

1347587

registered interest
date	15/07/2021
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Rural Areas
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of OpenRAN (1) as part of their gigabit capable broad rollout, (2) in increasing connectivity to rural communities, and (3) in extending connectivity to rural ‘notspots’.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of St Albans
uin	HL2105
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government continues to explore the role of interoperable technologies, such as Open RAN, in the future of our telecommunications networks as part of the 5G Supply Chain <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/5g-supply-chain-diversification-strategy/5g-supply-chain-diversification-strategy" target="_blank">Diversification Strategy</a>, published in November last year and here <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/5g-supply-chain-diversification-strategy/5g-supply-chain-diversification-strategy" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/5g-supply-chain-diversification-strategy/5g-supply-chain-diversification-strategy</a> . Open RAN is still a nascent technology which promises efficiency and flexibility gains, and the Government is supporting its development as part of the telecoms diversification agenda, including through the £30m Future RAN Competition (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/future-ran-diversifying-the-5g-supply-chain" target="_blank">FRANC</a>).</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Government is extending connectivity to rural areas - both mobile and full fibre. Project Gigabit recognises Fixed Wireless Access as a potential gigabit-capable technology, which can provide a broadband connection via infrastructure also used for mobile networks. Furthermore, the Shared Rural Network programme will bring 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by 2025 - including total not-spots. We expect Open RAN to play an ever larger role in 5G mobile networks and beyond; these technologies are capable of reaching gigabit speeds and may support the Government's ambition to connect at least 85% of UK premises to gigabit speeds by 2025.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Government also welcomed the <a href="https://www.vodafone.com/news/press-release/vodafone-europe-first-commercial-open-ran-network" target="_blank">news</a> from Vodafone that it will be supplying large parts of Wales and the South West of England with Open RAN technology, and that deployment will start in rural areas.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Barran question first answered 22/07/2021 12:46:50 answering member 4703 label Biography information for Baroness Barran
tabling member	4308 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of St Albans