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<p>According to data from Thinkbroadband (www.thinkbroadband.com) the current superfast
broadband coverage (speeds of more than 24Mbps) in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency
is 96% and in the London Borough of Bexley it is 96.6%. The Government expects superfast
broadband coverage within London to be provided by the private sector and there is
therefore no government-funded superfast project. Providers including BT Openreach,
Virgin Media and Hyperoptic all have current or planned network coverage within Bexley.</p><p>
</p><p>During 2017 DCMS worked with a number of London Boroughs, including Bexley,
to ensure proportionate mechanisms are in place to enable access to the highways by
broadband providers for network deployment.</p><p> </p><p>For any premises not covered
by superfast broadband, as confirmed in our announcement in December 2017, we are
pushing ahead with our plans for a Universal Service Obligation (USO) so that by 2020
everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to request 10 Megabit
per second broadband.</p><p> </p><p>In September we launched Wave 1 of the Local Full
Fibre Network programme in 6 locations across the UK, and used expressions of interest
gathered in this period to shape a Challenge Fund Wave 2, which was launched on 22nd
November 2017.</p><p> </p><p>The Challenge Fund was available in open competition
for local bodies from across all regions to bid into on a competitive basis to fund
full fibre connections and upgrades to public sector assets and amenities. Bidding
for the Challenge Fund closed on 26th January 2018 and we are currently assessing
applications with successful bids being announced in March 2018.</p>
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