Broadband: Broadland

(asked on 7th January 2020) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to allocate funding from the £5 billion fund to support the rollout of full-fibre, 5G and other gigabit-capable networks to Broadland constituency.


Answered by
Matt Warman Portrait
Matt Warman
This question was answered on 15th January 2020

The ambition to invest £5bn for the rollout of full fibre and gigabit capable networks in the hardest to reach areas of the UK was announced in September 2019. This was reiterated in the Conservative Party Manifesto. In anticipation of the funding being announced in the March budget, mobilisation of the delivery programme is underway.

An application for State Aid approval has been submitted in parallel to both the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority.
Modelling of the Intervention Area (“the final 20% of premises / F20”) is underway.
The procurement approach is being designed in conjunction with Government Commercial Organisation and Crown Commercial Services

The delivery team is ramping up resources, processes and systems in preparation
Supplier and Local Authority engagement and workshops are underway

Plans are not yet at a sufficiently mature or at a sufficiently detailed stage to answer funding plans and dates at a constituency level, however we will provide more granular detail over the coming months. In the meantime our existing fibre delivery programmes continue to deliver further coverage. These include the Superfast, Local Full Fibre Networks, Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programmes as well as our Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.

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