Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of permitted development rules on the commercial performance of telecommunications companies that have built networks under those rules.

The Government is committed to ensuring gigabit broadband is available across the country as soon as possible. To support this, we are working to support efficient network deployment and promote market competition in a variety of ways. Permitted Development Rights for telegraph poles form part of this strategy, enabling operators to deploy their infrastructure without costly and disruptive roadworks, increasing the speed of rollout, and increasing competition and consumer choice.

Separately to the Permitted Development Rights regime, we have introduced a number of changes to legislation aimed at making it easier for operators to upgrade and share the use of existing infrastructure, reducing the need for future installations. These measures came into force in February and April of last year and we will continue to promote their use and monitor their impact.

Since the Permitted Development Rights regime forms part of a wider deployment strategy and legal framework, it would be extremely difficult to assess the impact of that regime on the commercial performance of operations in isolation. Furthermore, while creating the right environment to attract investment is a key pillar of our strategy, we do not set operational targets for commercial projects which are privately funded and managed.

DSIT is looking closely at the way operators install fixed networks and as part of this, will consider whether additional guidance is needed.