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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the oral evidence to the Public Accounts Committee of 28 January 2015, HC 925, what estimate he has made of the potential cost of providing broadband via satellite to people who would still be unable to receive 2mbps through the copper or fibre networks by the end of 2015; whether he plans to meet that cost from a pre-existing fund; what assessment he has made of the viability of that plan; what estimate he has made of the time it will take to implement that plan; and what estimate has he made of the monthly cost to consumers of that broadband provision.

The Government is committed to providing superfast broadband (speeds of 24Mbps+) to 95% of the UK by 2017. Over 90% will have access to such speeds by early 2016. By the end of 2015 the DCMS estimates fewer than 1% of premises in the UK will have access to speeds not more than 2Mbps. Providing access to a broadband service to these premises through a satellite connection may involve a capital cost in the region of £150 to £200 per premises. Funding to allow these premises to have access to a service which can deliver speeds of at least 2Mbps is included in the local project superfast broadband contracts covering the first phase of the superfast broadband programme. Further work is under way to develop plans for delivery of this.