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.

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.