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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made on the roll-out of superfast broadband to (a) rural areas and (b) Cornwall.

Information held by the Department does not distinguish between rural and urban areas in regards to superfast broadband coverage. Superfast broadband of at least 24 Mbps is available to over 94 per cent of homes and businesses in the UK.

According to Thinkbroadband

(http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/cornwall,E06000052), in Cornwall almost 90% of premises now have access to superfast broadband, up from 33% in 2011. Current contracted delivery will extend coverage by a further 3% by 2019 and Superfast Cornwall are currently beginning a further procurement process for additional superfast coverage beyond that.

For all premises that do not have superfast broadband the government will ensure universal broadband of at least 10Mbps.