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 preparations to implement the broadband universal service obligation; if he will prioritise the allocation of broadband funding for areas with (a) very slow and (b) no connections; and if he will make a statement.

By 2020 the Universal Service Obligation (USO) will give everyone the legal right to high speed broadband of at least 10Mbps.

We created new powers for this in the Digital Economy Act 2017, and subsequently ran a public consultation on the design of the USO, which we will be setting in secondary legislation very shortly.

Ofcom will then be responsible for implementing the USO, including designating the universal service providers and the design of an industry cost-sharing fund.

The USO is demand-led, and will, upon request, allow anyone who does not have a connection that meets the minimum specification from a designated provider, no matter where they live or work, up to a reasonable cost threshold.