Rural Broadband: Installation

Kanishka Narayan Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (Kanishka Narayan)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Murrison. First and foremost, I thank the hon. Member for Bridgwater (Sir Ashley Fox) for securing today’s debate on the impact of the time taken to install gigabit-capable broadband in rural communities, and for once again drawing to the attention of the House the importance of delivering fast and reliable digital connectivity to them.

I also thank all other hon. Members across the House who have persistently championed the cause of improving rural broadband, and not least for their gift of anticipation when it comes to the speech of the hon. Member for Bridgwater.

[Mr Angus MacDonald (Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire) (LD)]

May I intervene, seeing that we have been so generous on interventions?

[Kanishka Narayan]

I am happy to give way briefly.

[Mr MacDonald]

We have heard about the 78% and the 99%. In north-east Skye we have 3% gigabit availability, and in south Skye we have 4.5%. We are dealing with enormous levels of depopulation among our young, with the number of children under the age of 15 at school halving in the last 15 years. A large part of that is because the place is an internet desert. Can the Minister reflect on that?

[Kanishka Narayan]

I thank the hon. Member for making that point, and I am very happy to engage with him both individually and with my colleague, the Minister for Digital Economy, on the particular experience of his constituents.

The contributions we have heard today from across the House again highlight just how essential connectivity has become to daily life. We have heard about its centrality to work, education and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouthshire (Catherine Fookes) said, to healthcare, online banking, farming, running a business or simply staying connected with friends and family.

The Government recognise that delays in broadband delivery can be particularly frustrating for rural residents, who often have fewer alternatives than urban residents, and for whom a slow or unreliable internet connection can have a deep impact on their quality of life and economic opportunities. Our mission is to ensure that 99% of premises can access a gigabit-capable connection by 2032. According to the latest figures from the independent website thinkbroadband.com, over 89% of UK premises already have access to a gigabit-capable connection.

Through Project Gigabit, we are targeting precisely the communities that have been highlighted in today’s debate. Commercial roll-out would not otherwise take place for these communities, and public investment is therefore essential. As at the end of September 2025, over 1.3 million premises in rural and hard-to-reach communities across the UK had been upgraded to gigabit-capable broadband through Government-funded programmes. In addition, over 1 million premises are now included in signed Project Gigabit contracts worth £2.4 billion in total.

[Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

There is a persistent issue in the Stainton and Thornton area of my constituency, which residents have raised with me. Would the Minister commit to meet me to discuss this issue?

[Kanishka Narayan]

I know my hon. Friend is a deeply committed champion for his constituency, so I would be very happy to meet him—both on my own and with my colleague, the Minister for Digital Economy—to look at the issues in his constituency.

We are making good progress on delivering these contracts. We have already celebrated the completion of the first three Project Gigabit contracts in Northumberland, Teesdale and north Dorset, which marks an important milestone in our programme. These early completions show that the programme is working, and rural communities are beginning to see the benefits of this investment.

The majority of premises receiving Government funding for broadband upgrades continue to be rural. Between April 2024 and March 2025, 89% of the premises benefiting from our interventions in this sector were in rural areas, including proud farming communities. We remain absolutely committed to ensuring that these communities receive the gigabit-capable connectivity they need and deeply deserve.

I also recognise, with honesty, that there have been delays to subsidised roll-out across Devon and Somerset in particular, as a result of premises being descoped from contracts under the earlier superfast broadband programme, including in the constituency of the hon. Member for Bridgwater.

When suppliers encounter financial, operational or technical challenges, I know that rural communities feel the impact the most, and as a proud representative of rural communities in south Wales, I feel it, too. I want to reassure hon. Members that we are closely engaging with Connecting Devon and Somerset, and with suppliers, to establish a clear path forward.

Following the announcement in 2025, descoped premises, particularly in the constituency of the hon. Member for Bridgwater, were made available for suppliers to bring forward proposals under the gigabit broadband voucher scheme. Several suppliers expressed interest, and I am pleased to say that approximately 3,000 premises are now included in approved voucher projects. Around 8,500 descoped premises remain without confirmed commercial or subsidised plans. However, these premises are now being considered for inclusion in the Project Gigabit contract with Openreach. We expect to finalise the amended scope of that contract in the spring. The hon. Member feels that work is urgent, and I do, too.

Approximately 3,100 premises in the hon. Gentleman’s Bridgwater constituency are currently included in the Project Gigabit contract delivered by Openreach, and my hope is that this intervention will deliver gigabit-capable connections to homes and businesses across the constituency, such as those in Nether Stowey, North Petherton and Westonzoyland.

Although 3,400 premises in Bridgwater were descoped from the previous superfast broadband contracts, almost half of those premises have since been connected through a supplier’s commercial roll-out, without the need for public subsidy. The remainder are included within the scope of the current contract change discussions we are undertaking with Openreach.

A healthy, competitive broadband market is fundamental to achieving our national gigabit ambition. Commercial delivery has been and will remain the backbone of the UK’s digital transformation. The majority of gigabit-capable connections have been delivered entirely through private investment. The Government’s role is to create the right environment for such investment to continue at pace. That is why we continue to work in close partnership with both industry and Ofcom to support the roll-out of fibre networks across the UK, including in the most rural and hard-to-reach areas.

Our approach is designed to complement commercial build, not to replace it, ensuring that public funding is targeted only where the market cannot deliver on its own. In July last year, we published a consultation on our draft statement of strategic priorities to Ofcom, setting out the Government’s view on the importance of promoting competition and maintaining a stable regulatory environment that gives investors confidence. A predictable and proportionate regulatory framework is essential for suppliers to continue investing billions in our fibre networks. Ensuring that regulation is not lifted prematurely is central to protecting our consumers, which is why competition must be properly established before we can relax regulatory safeguards. That is the approach needed to deliver long-term benefits.

I know there has been a question about where the Government are in this process. Our draft statement set out our position on infrastructure sharing, which has become one of the sector’s most important enablers of competition. In particular, Ofcom’s physical infrastructure access product has allowed over 100 alternative networks to roll out fibre using Openreach’s ducts and poles, lowering barriers to entry and helping to accelerate competition. We have asked Ofcom to provide greater transparency on how PIA pricing is calculated and set, because transparency is the underpinning driver of confidence for investors.

We are reviewing responses to the consultation on our draft statement of strategic priorities, and we will set out the Government’s conclusions in due course. I of course note the hon. Member’s comments, and we are all hoping for pace as well as rigour in the response to the consultation.

[Sir Ashley Fox]

I referred to Openreach’s comments to me. It said that it did not believe there is sufficient funding in the spending review for the Government to meet their target of 99% by 2032. Does the Minister believe he has sufficient funding to meet that target?

[Kanishka Narayan]

Openreach has not made that representation to me. The Government are squarely focused on reaching the 99% target, and we are doing all we can to make sure that all providers are in a place to do so. I am happy to engage with Openreach if it wants to make a representation to me.

To ensure that the commercial market can continue to deliver as fast as possible, the Government remain committed to removing deployment barriers. Whether that is done by reforming wayleave processes, improving access to land and multi-dwelling units, enhancing the co-ordination of street works or accelerating planning decisions, every barrier we remove helps the industry to build networks faster and more efficiently.

Even with the scale of commercial investment and the ambition of Project Gigabit, the expectation is that some remote premises will remain too expensive to reach with gigabit-capable fibre in the immediate term. We are therefore continuing to consider what more we can do to enable high-quality alternatives for those in the “very hard to reach” category. The satellite market is developing at pace. We expect to see more competition in that market imminently, with rapidly improving terminal equipment, higher speeds and falling costs for end users. We continue to monitor and support the development of that market, recognising its role in connecting the most remote communities.

I am conscious of the points made on mobile connectivity, not least those made by the hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers). With increasing 5G coverage from mobile network operators, fixed wireless access is becoming an increasingly viable connectivity option. Ofcom estimates that fixed wireless access delivered over mobile networks is already available to 96% of UK premises, with wireless internet service providers offering fixed wireless access to around 8% of premises.

I thank the hon. Member for Bridgwater for securing this important debate, and I thank all Members who have contributed. In response to the hon. Member for Chester South and Eddisbury (Aphra Brandreth), I want to flag that, since Building Digital UK and Freedom Fibre mutually agreed to terminate the Project Gigabit contract for Cheshire, we have launched a new procurement for Cheshire. We expect it to be in place by the spring, and we will be sure to let her know of its progress.

Let me be clear that, although challenges remain, the Government are acting. We are committed to working at pace with suppliers, local authorities, communities and devolved Governments to ensure that progress continues. Rural communities must not and will not be left behind as we work towards our goal of 99% gigabit coverage. Given that the hon. Member for Bridgwater brought up wider support for rural communities, I put on record that this Government are squarely on the side of rural communities across the UK, which were abandoned by the previous Government on trade negotiations and farming funding and were not given appropriate representation.

Question put and agreed to.