Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Julia Lopez and Julian Sturdy(7 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure (Julia Lopez)
More than 82% of UK premises can now access gigabit-capable broadband, up from just 6% in January 2019. The National Infrastructure Commission recently reported that we are on track to meet our target of 85% gigabit coverage by 2025. Through Project Gigabit, we have already signed 31 contracts, with another this week, to bring fast, reliable connectivity to hard-to-reach communities across the UK. We have also created an attractive pro-competition environment to build networks in this country. Investment in fixed networks increased by 40% in real terms from 2019 to 2022, with more than 100 providers rolling out gigabit broadband across the UK.
Julian Sturdy
I very much welcome the Minister’s response, but does she agree that we need to ensure that we do not create a new digital divide where only parts of certain communities are upgraded, depending on where they are situated and where they are connected to the telecom box? This is causing a lot of concern in my constituency, where a continuing digital divide is being created.
Julia Lopez
Making sure that we do not have a digital divide is at the heart of Project Gigabit. By the time the programme is over, 99% of premises in our country will have gigabit-capable coverage, but during the roll-out process some will get that coverage sooner than others. We just had a new contract signed for Yorkshire, which will cover 3,400 premises in my hon. Friend’s constituency. He is right that we must ensure that premises between the commercial roll-out and the contract roll-out from Project Gigabit are not left out.