Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to increase broadband access for (a) residents and (b) businesses in (i) Fylde constituency and (ii) Lancashire.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, over 99% of homes and businesses in the Fylde constituency can access superfast broadband speeds (>=30 Mbps) and over 94% have access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection (>1000 Mbps). In Lancashire, over 98% of homes and businesses can access superfast broadband speeds, and over 90% have access to a gigabit-capable connection.
To improve this coverage further, Openreach is delivering a Project Gigabit contract across Lancashire, targeted at bringing gigabit-capable broadband to homes and businesses in hard-to-reach areas that are unlikely to be otherwise reached by suppliers’ commercial rollout. Approximately 11,450 homes and businesses in Lancashire are currently expected to benefit from this contract, including in Fylde.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent progress he has made on achieving full gigabit coverage by 2030.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
According to the independent website ThinkBroadband.com, over 87% of UK premises now have access to a gigabit-capable connection.
More than £2.3 billion in Project Gigabit contracts have now been signed to connect over 1 million more premises. This includes the latest contract in Scotland we announced with Openreach earlier this month.
In the last few months, the first premises have been connected as part of Project Gigabit contracts in areas including Norfolk, West Yorkshire and South Wiltshire, and build has now started in earnest in other parts of the country too. In March, we announced the Project Gigabit contract for Cumbria, being delivered by Fibrus, had been extended to connect an additional 21,000 premises.