Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to bring forward proposals to amend the Electronic Communications Code in line with the recommendations of the Law Commission published on 27 February 2013.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Since the publication of the Law Commission’s report on the Electronic Communications Code, DCMS has been considering the implications of the recommendations on network roll out and service provision to consumers. In January 2014, we published an economic analysis of the impacts of various wayleave valuation regimes. A copy of this report has been placed in the House of Commons library.
I will make public my plans to reform the Electronic Communications Code shortly.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with Ofcom about the recommendations of the Law Commission on reform of the Electronic Communications Code published on 27 February 2013.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I regularly meet Ofcom to discuss a range of issues across its remit as the communications regulator in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the report of the National Audit Office entitled 4G radio spectrum auction: lessons learned, published on 12 March 2014, HC 968, what discussions he has had with Ofcom on the recommendation that pre-auction reviews of competition be conducted in future spectrum releases.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom, in performing its statutory duties in relation to award of rights to use spectrum, conducts impact assessments of each award. This includes assessing how an award would further the interests of consumers in relevant markets, where appropriate by promoting competition. It is for Ofcom in the first instance to consider whether a pre-auction review of competition is necessary or justified. Ofcom, properly, consults on how they propose to design spectrum awards and on their impact assessments. |
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to promote competition in the provision of superfast broadband.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The UK has a highly competitive broadband market. Superfast broadband is currently available to 78% of UK premises, up from 45% in 2010. BT’s wholesale access products are open to all Internet Service Providers, meaning that consumers have a range of retail Internet Service providers to buy broadband services from. In addition to BT, KCom and Virgin Media, a growing number of both fixed and wireless providers are making investments in competing broadband infrastructure. In September 2012 the Government announced a package of measures to reduce the barriers to deployment of superfast broadband, reducing red tape and bureaucracy to enable communications providers to deploy competing networks.
In August 2014 the Government consulted on the objectives for a long term digital communications infrastructure strategy to ensure the UK maintains its competitive position. We expect the strategy to be published early in 2015.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the UK population has taken-up super-fast broadband, excluding cable.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
According to Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2014, by the end of Q1 2014 over a quarter (26.7%) of broadband connections were superfast. A breakdown between cable and non-cable premises was not given. The same publication reported that as of June 2014 superfast broadband was available to 78% of premises.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the UK population has access to superfast broadband.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
According to Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2014, by the end of Q1 2014 over a quarter (26.7%) of broadband connections were superfast. A breakdown between cable and non-cable premises was not given. The same publication reported that as of June 2014 superfast broadband was available to 78% of premises.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the UK population has taken-up super-fast broadband that has been funded or partially funded by BDUK or a local authority.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom is responsible for monitoring broadband markets and publishes Superfast broadband coverage and take-up data by local authority area on their UK Fixed Broadband Map. The 2013 edition is available at: http://maps.ofcom.org.uk/broadband/ Ofcom’s 2014 Infrastructure Report is expected to be published in early December. However, the data is not normally available by population as the usual measurement is by premises and the analysis by project is not currently available.