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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to review requirements to obtain wayleave agreements to install broadband supporting fibre cables on private properties, and what steps she is taking to improve the efficiency of that process.

Agreements to install digital communications equipment - including fibre cables - on private land are underpinned by the Electronic Communications Code. My Department reformed the Code in 2017, with the aim of making it cheaper and easier for digital communications apparatus to be deployed. My Department is monitoring the impact of these reforms closely and is working with stakeholders to ensure they achieve their intended effect.

In addition, the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill received its first reading in the House of Commons on 15 October 2019. If enacted, this legislation will create a cheaper and faster process for operators to install fibre needed to provide services to tenants in multiple-dwelling buildings if a landlord repeatedly fails to respond to operator requests for access rights.