Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made with Building Digital UK in rolling out full-fibre broadband throughout the UK.

According to Thinkbroadband, currently 27.1% of premises have access to gigabit-capable broadband - up from 0.9% in 2016. 17.1% of premises have access to full fibre connections.

The Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme is investing £278 million to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks in both rural and urban locations across the whole of the UK. There are 36 projects ongoing across the UK, 34 of which are in delivery.

The Superfast Programme has delivered superfast broadband to 5.3 million premises, which constitutes 17% of all households in the UK. In 2019, the majority of delivery on the Superfast Programme moved from Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) to Fibre to the Premise (FTTP). For example, for the financial quarter April-June 2020, ~90% (27k premises out of 30k) of delivery through the programme was FTTP. The Superfast Programme, therefore, is now a significant contributor to the government’s gigabit ambitions, as well as satisfying its commitment to Superfast coverage.