Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the concentration of ownership of UK mobile towers among wireless infrastructure providers; and what assessment she has made of the implications of this market structure for competition and mobile coverage.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government continually monitors developments across the mobile market to understand how they may shape investment in comprehensive, high-quality mobile connectivity that is secure and affordable for consumers and business.
On 10 February, the Government published the Mobile Market Review call for evidence, inviting stakeholders to provide detailed evidence on the technological, structural and financial developments across the mobile ecosystem and how they impact investment, competition and consumer outcomes, and on what further actions the Government could take to support these objectives.
The call for evidence closes on 5 May. The Government encourages all relevant stakeholders to engage with the process and provide robust evidence to help inform future policy development.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of 2017 Electronic Communications Code reforms on relationships between telecoms operators and site providers; and whether she has made an estimate of the number of site providers who have declined to renew mast agreements as a result.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government wants Code agreements to be negotiated collaboratively; and the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 made changes to the Code intended to support this.
The Department has not undertaken comprehensive monitoring of the number of active Code agreements following the 2017 reforms.
However, landowners can terminate agreements governed by the Electronic Communications Code for a number of reasons, including if they intend to redevelop the land. Therefore, any data on the number of terminated agreements alone would not be indicative of the effectiveness of the 2017 reforms.
It should also be noted that 4G geographic coverage from all four operators has risen from 40% in 2016 to 81% in 2025 and 5G premises (outdoor) coverage has reached 47% from all four operators in 2025.
The 2022 reforms also introduced a requirement for operators to inform landowners of the availability of alternative dispute resolution and to consider using it before issuing legal proceedings. Section 70 of the Act, which will be implemented in due course, will introduce a new process for the handling of complaints about the conduct of operators under the Electronic Communications Code.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of ownership of UK mobile towers among wireless infrastructure providers; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of that market structure on competition, pricing and mobile coverage.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government continually monitors developments across the market to understand how they may impact investment in comprehensive, high-quality mobile connectivity that is secure and affordable for consumers and business.
On 10 February, the Government published the Mobile Market Review call for evidence, inviting stakeholders to provide detailed evidence on how technological, structural and financial developments across the mobile ecosystem may impact investment, competition and consumer outcomes, and on what further actions Government could take to support these objectives.
The call for evidence closes on 5 May, and the Government encourages all relevant stakeholders to engage with the process to help inform future policy development.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 address the potential risk of social housing residents being excluded from full fibre broadband due to access rights.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to ensuring at least 99% of premises receive gigabit broadband coverage by 2032. This will primarily be achieved through the commercial deployment of full‑fibre connections. Through Project Gigabit the Government is supporting the rollout of gigabit‑capable broadband to UK premises that are not expected to be reached commercially, helping to ensure that residents, including those in social housing, can benefit from fast and reliable connectivity.
The Department recognises the challenges of connection in social housing, and we continue to engage with Local Authorities and Housing Associations on digital infrastructure deployment. In November 2024, the then Minister of State for Data Protection and Telecoms wrote to Local Authorities to encourage access agreements to be reached for the installation of gigabit-capable broadband on local authority land and assets which include some social housing.
We are currently analysing responses to our consultation on legislative proposals to address broadband rollout in leasehold flats (which closed on 16 February 2026), and will update on the outcomes in due course.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help tackle the potential impact of restrictive software licensing practices on businesses.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting a competitive and innovative digital economy. This is why we prioritised the commencement of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (the CMA) new powers in digital markets.
These new powers are designed to boost competition and innovation in digital markets and promote fairer outcomes for both businesses and consumers. The CMA is independent of Government, and any decisions on which markets it next investigates is for its Board.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much her Department has spent on software licences from Microsoft in the last 12 months; and what proportion this represents of her Department’s total technology spend.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT spend of £3,044,084.14 for DSIT Microsoft Licences in the last 12 months. We have not provided the proportion of the total technology spend as it is not a separate reporting category within Annual Report and Accounts (ARA).
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the value achieved through recent contract negotiations with Microsoft; and what assurances are in place regarding future pricing.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government holds a number of contracts with resellers of Microsoft products, which includes Office tools, Copilot and Azure.
Value for money is typically assessed through the Department’s internal governance processes for awarding a new contract. The Department utilises the Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 (SPA24) MOU which was negotiated between Crown Commercial Services (CCS) and Microsoft. SPA24 provides discounts and favourable terms to UK public sector customers.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what actions she will take to address restrictive software licensing practices by dominant cloud providers, as identified by the CMA, to ensure fair competition in the cloud services market.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting a competitive and innovative digital economy. This is why we prioritised the commencement of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (the CMA) new powers in digital markets. The CMA is independent of Government, and any decisions on which markets it investigates is for their Board.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Government is taking to ensure greater competition, interoperability, and diversity in the UK cloud market, in light of successive large-scale outages from Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In July, the Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA) recommended their board prioritise a future Strategic Market Status investigation into competition in the cloud market. The CMA is independent of Government and any decisions on which markets it investigates is for their Board.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 ensure that the Competition and Markets Authority accelerates the Digital Markets Unit strategic market status designation process for cloud services.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA) has completed 3 Strategic Market Status investigations this year. The CMA is independent of the Government and decisions on which markets to investigate is for their Board. The CMA has published guidance on its website on how it will prioritise Strategic Market Status designations.