Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what criteria the Government is using to define the hardest-to-reach areas for gigabit capable rollout.

The hardest-to-reach areas for gigabit-capable rollout are those that are unlikely to get gigabit-capable broadband within an acceptable time frame, if at all, through commercial investment alone. We have conducted extensive analysis to identify the hardest to reach areas, based on the estimated costs for the delivery of gigabit-capable networks and the corresponding commercial value of these areas. We are engaging with Ofcom and industry to test our criteria and the underlying data. Based on this modelling, we estimate that a minority of UK households - c20% - require Government intervention to receive a gigabit-capable connection. The Government has committed to invest £5 billion in supporting gigabit-capable rollout in these areas.