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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) premises in total and (b) business premises in areas without access to broadband services faster than 100mbps and who are in areas ineligible for support from the Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme.

The Government is investing £5 billion to provide gigabit capable broadband across the country, including those places that are hardest-to-reach.

We estimate that up to 12,911,000 premises are ineligible for the Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme and also cannot receive broadband services faster than 100mbps. The majority of these premises are urban premises, which is why they do not qualify for the Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme.

Eligibility for the Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme is determined at individual site level rather than by area. The Government estimates that 1,001,000 businesses cannot receive broadband services faster than 100mbps and are also ineligible for the Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme.