Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru) on Tuesday, 21 September 2021, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 23 September 2021. It was answered by Julia Lopez (Conservative) on Tuesday, 28 September 2021 on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Broadband: Ceredigion

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions her Department has had with Openreach on (a) progress on the update of the Bow Street exchange and (b) the timeline for completion of that work.

Answer

The department regularly engages with Openreach on the progress of their commercial rollout. Details of specific exchanges can be found on the Openreach website at the following address: https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/where-when-building-ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband.

It is the government's view that the best way to achieve nationwide gigabit coverage is to create a competition-friendly environment in areas where deployment is commercially viable while focussing government funds on the 20% of the country where commercial deployment is unlikely. The Government is investing £5 billion as part of Project Gigabit to ensure the hardest-to-reach areas in the UK receive coverage. This will ensure communities are not left behind as the country benefits from a faster, further-reaching commercial investment. More generally across the UK, over half of premises can access gigabit-capable networks, up from just one in ten in November 2019. By the end of the year, 60% will have access, and by 2025 the government is targeting a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
52581
Session
2021-22
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Broadband Ceredigion Openreach
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk