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Written question asked by Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 17 June 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 June 2025. It was answered by Chris Bryant (Labour) on Wednesday, 25 June 2025 on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Broadband: Optical Fibres

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of duplicate fibre broadband cabling on the (a) distribution of fibre coverage nationally, (b) environment and (c) infrastructure for residents on roads with duplicate cabling.

Answer

Competition in the broadband market leads to positive outcomes for consumers, including widespread coverage and competitive pricing. We do not intervene in commercial deployment decisions.

We are aware that having multiple operators can mean deployment of overlapping networks. The sharing of ducts and poles between operators can minimise the disruption this can cause. To support, this Ofcom has put regulations in place to require Openreach to give access to its physical infrastructure to other networks. The Access to Infrastructure (ATI) Regulations 2016 also gives operators the right to request access to another operator’s physical infrastructure to facilitate sharing across utility, transport and communications sectors.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
60661
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Broadband Environment protection Infrastructure Optical fibres
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk