Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to Connecting Devon and Cornwall's news story Airband’s full fibre broadband delivery for CDS scaled back, published on 31 October 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the amendment to Airband’s contract to reduce the number of properties in Somerset and Devon that will receive full fibre broadband.

Last year, Airband and Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) took the decision to descope premises from their Superfast contracts in the region. Approximately 6,000 premises will remain under contract to gain access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection from Airband. Other premises have since been included in suppliers’ commercial rollout, and we are working swiftly to identify alternative solutions for the remaining, approximately 13,000, descoped premises.

Eligible descoped premises have been made available for connection via the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. Several projects are currently under review. Any premises that are not included in voucher projects will be considered for inclusion in our Project Gigabit contracts in Devon and Somerset being delivered by the supplier Openreach.