Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had discussions with mobile operators on the withdrawal of copper wire telecommunications networks.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom will monitor the withdrawal of copper services. Ofcom has set out high-level conditions for how the gradual deregulation of BT Group’s copper-based network will function.
Ofcom will consider the process which will trigger the complete deregulation of the copper network in the next regulatory review period, which will commence in 2026.
The withdrawal of analogue landlines, also known as the PSTN migration, is a separate process to the complete replacement of the copper network. DSIT meets regularly with Communications Providers to discuss their plans for migrating their customers to digital landlines, and to ensure they have adequate processes in place to protect vulnerable consumers.
On 14 December, the DSIT Secretary of State convened a meeting with the UK’s leading telecoms providers, including Sky, BT, VMO2 and TalkTalk, to discuss urgent steps to protect vulnerable households when upgrading phone lines to a digital network. In response, the major telecoms providers have now signed a Charter committing to concrete measures to protect vulnerable households, particularly those using telecare alarms. The move represents a positive step by the telecoms industry to make sure safety continues to be at the heart of the nationwide switchover. The Charter can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-switched-telephone-network-charter
Furthermore, DSIT meets regularly with Ofcom to ensure that industry adheres to its regulatory obligations throughout the migration process. In addition, we are working with telecare providers, Local Authorities, and Other Government Departments to take further steps to ensure the migration is a success. We also regularly engage with mobile operators on a variety of issues including the PSTN migration.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure mobile phone coverage in rural communities.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government is committed to improve digital connectivity in rural areas. Project Gigabit is the Government’s £5 billion programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to rural and hard-to-reach communities across the UK. Alongside suppliers’ commercial rollout plans, our target is to achieve 85% gigabit coverage of the UK by 2025, and then nationwide coverage by 2030. Over 78% of UK premises can now access gigabit-capable broadband, which represents significant progress since January 2019, when coverage was just 6%.
Through our 12 Project Gigabit contracts, including one in Cumbria, and 27 current live procurements, we have made over £2 billion of funding available to suppliers to bring gigabit-capable broadband to up to 1.1 million premises in hard to reach parts of the country.
Support is also available for homes and businesses in some rural areas through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. Over 100,00 vouchers have been used to connect rural homes and businesses with fast, reliable broadband.
In April 2023, the Government announced a capital grants scheme to provide up to 35,000 premises with help to access Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite equipment to improve their connectivity. The scheme will be open to premises that the department has identified as being unlikely to benefit from an improved fixed line, or fixed wireless access connection. More information on eligibility for this scheme will be announced shortly.
The department is also consulting on future policy solutions for Very Hard to Reach premises. In October 2023, we launched two consultations, one on the Broadband Universal Service Obligation and one setting out our proposed policy approach to connecting Very Hard to Reach premises across the UK. We welcome contributions to both consultations until they close on Monday 27 November.
To improve mobile coverage in rural areas, the Government is working with the UK’s four mobile network operators to deliver the Shared Rural Network. This agreement will see the Government and industry jointly invest over £1 billion to increase outdoor 4G mobile coverage across the UK to 95% by the end of 2025. The programme targets areas of the country with partial or no 4G coverage, in rural and hard-to-reach locations across the UK. 4G coverage across the UK is currently approaching 93%, which is up from 91% when the Shared Rural Network deal was signed in March 2020.
Alongside the Shared Rural Network, the Government’s Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, published in April 2023, set out further steps to improve connectivity across the UK, including a new ambition for nationwide coverage of standalone 5G in all populated areas by 2030.
Finally, Simon Fell MP has been appointed as the Government’s Rural Connectivity Champion. His role will be to ensure that rural communities and businesses can access and adopt the connectivity that they need.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support rural communities increase levels of broadband connectivity.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government is committed to improve digital connectivity in rural areas. Project Gigabit is the Government’s £5 billion programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to rural and hard-to-reach communities across the UK. Alongside suppliers’ commercial rollout plans, our target is to achieve 85% gigabit coverage of the UK by 2025, and then nationwide coverage by 2030. Over 78% of UK premises can now access gigabit-capable broadband, which represents significant progress since January 2019, when coverage was just 6%.
Through our 12 Project Gigabit contracts, including one in Cumbria, and 27 current live procurements, we have made over £2 billion of funding available to suppliers to bring gigabit-capable broadband to up to 1.1 million premises in hard to reach parts of the country.
Support is also available for homes and businesses in some rural areas through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. Over 100,00 vouchers have been used to connect rural homes and businesses with fast, reliable broadband.
In April 2023, the Government announced a capital grants scheme to provide up to 35,000 premises with help to access Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite equipment to improve their connectivity. The scheme will be open to premises that the department has identified as being unlikely to benefit from an improved fixed line, or fixed wireless access connection. More information on eligibility for this scheme will be announced shortly.
The department is also consulting on future policy solutions for Very Hard to Reach premises. In October 2023, we launched two consultations, one on the Broadband Universal Service Obligation and one setting out our proposed policy approach to connecting Very Hard to Reach premises across the UK. We welcome contributions to both consultations until they close on Monday 27 November.
To improve mobile coverage in rural areas, the Government is working with the UK’s four mobile network operators to deliver the Shared Rural Network. This agreement will see the Government and industry jointly invest over £1 billion to increase outdoor 4G mobile coverage across the UK to 95% by the end of 2025. The programme targets areas of the country with partial or no 4G coverage, in rural and hard-to-reach locations across the UK. 4G coverage across the UK is currently approaching 93%, which is up from 91% when the Shared Rural Network deal was signed in March 2020.
Alongside the Shared Rural Network, the Government’s Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, published in April 2023, set out further steps to improve connectivity across the UK, including a new ambition for nationwide coverage of standalone 5G in all populated areas by 2030.
Finally, Simon Fell MP has been appointed as the Government’s Rural Connectivity Champion. His role will be to ensure that rural communities and businesses can access and adopt the connectivity that they need.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the retirement of the public switched telephone network on the broadband connectivity of rural communities.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The retirement of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) will not have any impact on broadband connectivity. The replacement Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services only require a very basic internet connection to function correctly. As a result, rural communities with limited digital connectivity can be upgraded to digital telephony services. For additional information, I would like to refer the Hon. Member to the answer Minister Julia Lopez gave to Question 135333 on 7 February 2023.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the prospect of the UK re-joining the Horizon Programme.
Answered by George Freeman
Collectively, the Government continues to be ready to work constructively with the EU on a range of issues including UK association to Horizon Europe. The EU have not yet made any proposals to address the financial terms of UK association, given we are now over 2 years into a 7-year programme.
The Government has acted to support researchers and businesses across the UK by introducing the Horizon Guarantee - now extended until end June 2023 and, in November last year, announced £684m of investment into UK R&D.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions she has had with the EU on the UK re-joining the Horizon Programme.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government continues to be ready to work constructively with the EU on a range of issues including UK association to Horizon Europe. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I met with the EU’s Ambassador to the UK, Pedro Serrano, on 14th March and discussed collaboration on science and research, including the Horizon Europe programme. We welcome the EU’s recent openness to working closer together. The EU have not yet made any proposals to address the financial terms of UK association, given we are now over 2 years into a 7-year programme.