Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the number of businesses in Newton Abbot constituency which have superfast broadband of 24Mb/s.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government has committed to achieving availability of superfast broadband to 95% of homes and businesses in the UK by the end of 2017. 88 per cent of homes and businesses in Newton Abbott are estimated to have coverage by the end of 2016, and additional funding sources, including the clawback funding that BT have offered in response to the high levels of take-up, will allow coverage to be extended further in Newton Abbott and the rest of the area covered by the Devon and Somerset broadband project. The Government will also launch a public consultation early next year in preparation for the implementation of a new broadband USO by 2020, with the ambition to give people the legal right to request a connection to broadband with speeds of 10 Mbps, no matter where in the country they live.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of Devon has access to superfast broadband; and what estimate he has made of what proportion of Devon will be covered by superfast broadband by the end of (a) 2015 and (b) 2017.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom is responsible for monitoring the UK broadband market and reported that superfast broadband was available to 45% of premises in Devon by June 2014. This could mostly be attributed to BT’s commercial roll-out.
The Government’s superfast broadband project for Devon and Somerset aims to deliver coverage to 211,000 superfast premises by the end of 2015. The project will increase coverage within the project area to 89% superfast by the end of 2016. This will be made up of commercial and publicly subsidised network build. Coverage beyond the end of the current project will depend on the result of the phase 2 procurement process. The Government has allocated £22.75m for the phase 2 project which the local authorities have committed to match with local and European funding.
In addition, Luxborough in Exmoor, Somerset is hosting a Government funded Market Test Pilot, which will soon be providing superfast satellite broadband services to over 200 premises. This will provide valuable information on how to take coverage even further by demonstrating the delivery of superfast broadband in the most commercially challenging locations.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of superfast broadband in Devon has been implemented by (a) BDUK and (b) BT commercially; and what estimate he has made of such figures at the end of (i) 2015 and (ii) 2017.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom is responsible for monitoring the UK broadband market and reported that superfast broadband was available to 45% of premises in Devon by June 2014. This could mostly be attributed to BT’s commercial roll-out.
The Government’s superfast broadband project for Devon and Somerset aims to deliver coverage to 211,000 superfast premises by the end of 2015. The project will increase coverage within the project area to 89% superfast by the end of 2016. This will be made up of commercial and publicly subsidised network build. Coverage beyond the end of the current project will depend on the result of the phase 2 procurement process. The Government has allocated £22.75m for the phase 2 project which the local authorities have committed to match with local and European funding.
In addition, Luxborough in Exmoor, Somerset is hosting a Government funded Market Test Pilot, which will soon be providing superfast satellite broadband services to over 200 premises. This will provide valuable information on how to take coverage even further by demonstrating the delivery of superfast broadband in the most commercially challenging locations.