Written question asked by Alan Duncan (Conservative) on Wednesday, 6 December 2000, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 12 December 2000. It was answered by Patricia Hewitt (Labour) on Tuesday, 12 December 2000 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what assessment he has made of the extent to which rural businesses will benefit from ADSL Internet access following local loop unbundling. - Including figures.

Answer: Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the extent to which rural businesses will benefit from ADSL internet access following local loop unbundling. [141655] Ms Hewitt: Local loop unbundling will allow other operators to provide high speed digital services such as ADSL over BT's copper wires. ADSL will however not work where the end user is more than 3-4 km from the local exchange, which means that only about 70 per cent. of the country is potentially able to receive it. There are other broadband technologies available, including satellite which can potentially cover the whole country. As stated in the White Paper "Our Countryside: The Future", the Government will ask the Countryside Agency to monitor the rollout of broadband in rural areas and we will take this into account in developing policy.

Secondary information