Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with BT and Openreach on pilot projects to utilise fibre laid above ground via existing utility poles, especially in rural areas of Scotland.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with BT and Openreach.
The use of utility infrastructure to deploy telecommunications fibre has been made easier by the Communications (Access to Infrastructure) Regulations 2016, which transposed the EU Broadband Cost Reduction Directive to UK law. This ensures that digital communications providers can access other providers’ physical infrastructure, across a range of sectors, on fair and reasonable terms.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with BT and Openreach on the location of unlit fibre and ducting laid across the UK.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with BT and Openreach.
Openreach has introduced an online mapping tool, which provides other telecoms providers with the locations of its poles and underground ducts, although the tool was introduced in the context of PIA (its duct and pole access remedy).
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of community broadband schemes in England about the roll-out of superfast broadband services.
Answered by Matt Hancock
DCMS has worked with a number of local communities to progress community broadband schemes and, as a result, information and guidance for communities has been developed and published on the Department’s website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-led-broadband-schemes. This also includes case studies such as Broadband for the Rural North (B4RN) (https://b4rn.org.uk/) and other examples.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of mobile telephone operators on 3G and 4G coverage in rural areas in Scotland.
Answered by Matt Hancock
My department has regular meetings with mobile network operators at both ministerial and official level to discuss a range of issues, including improving mobile coverage in rural areas across the UK including Scotland. Furthermore, as a result of the Government's landmark agreement with mobile operators each mobile operator will deliver mobile coverage to 90% of the UK's landmass by the end of this year. Additionally O2 will deliver indoor 4G coverage to 95% of premises in Scotland, also by the end of 2017.