Internet: Standards

(asked on 16th October 2018) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department's plans for a Universal Service Obligation of 10 mbps in internet speed by 2020 includes homes with exchange only lines.


Answered by
Margot James Portrait
Margot James
This question was answered on 23rd October 2018

The broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) will give everyone across the UK, including those that are connected via local exchange only lines, a clear enforceable right to request high speed broadband subject to a reasonable cost threshold.

Following a consultation in 2017, the design for the USO was set out in secondary legislation in March 2018 and the consultation response published online.

Ofcom is now responsible for implementing the USO, including designating the Universal Service Provider(s), and the design of an industry cost sharing fund. Following a call for expressions of interest, Ofcom published a consultation on 13 September seeking views on proposals for the process of designating a Universal Service Provider. Ofcom will also consider the wider USO aspects, including the identification of Universal Service Provider(s) and the regulatory obligations which will apply to them, in a further consultation later this year.

Ofcom, rather than Local Authorities, is responsible for enforcing the broadband USO.

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