Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a rural Passive Infrastructure Access pricing model aligned with Ofcom’s existing per-customer wholesale pricing framework for national internet service providers.

As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.

For this reason, while we are engaging with Ofcom on this issue, the Department has not made any formal assessment of the impact of the current PIA pricing structure on the economic viability of rural operators. We have also not made any formal assessment of the merits of a distinct rural pricing model for the PIA product nor have made any assessment of changes to PIA pricing on Project Gigabit.