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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to reduce the cost to consumers of superfast broadband.

Ofcom, as the UK’s independent telecommunications regulator, are responsible for safeguarding the interests of UK consumers, including an interest in acting to ensure that broadband services offer them the best value for money. Ofcom conduct regular market reviews and can impose remedies in order to promote competition amongst Internet Service Providers for the benefit of consumers.

The general trend over the past 10 years has been a significant price reduction in communication services which have benefitted consumers. At the same time, investment in superfast broadband has delivered new networks and services, and increased quality and choice to consumers. Consumer prices for superfast broadband in the UK compares favourably to average prices in other countries. For example, Ofcom’s EU Broadband Scorecard published on 11 December 2014 shows that the UK has the lowest superfast consumer prices compared to the other top EU economies of Germany, France, Italy and Spain.