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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of providing alternative leased line providers with passive infrastructure access and the effect of this on consumers.

I have not made any assessment of the impact on consumers of providing passive remedies for alternative leased line providers. Ofcom is responsible for telecommunications market regulation. It carries out a rolling programme of market reviews of competition in communications markets to ensure that regulation remains appropriate and proportionate in the light of changing market conditions. Following a market review, Ofcom can impose regulatory remedies to address competition concerns which vary according to the market and services being provided. Ofcom is currently conducting a review of competition in the supply of leased line services in the UK (the Business Connectivity Market Review, or BCMR). As part of that review a preliminary consultation was published last month on the role that passive remedies might play in addressing competition concerns in the market for leased line services.