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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of urban properties are unable to access fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband and above the connectivity thresholds for the universal service obligation.

Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report 2019 found that 2% of all urban properties (approximately 322,000 premises) in the UK could receive a fixed broadband connection that was above the threshold for the Universal Service Obligation but below 30Mbps, the typical minimum speed delivered by Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology. These statistics consider only fixed network provision.

The Department does not hold the information about how many or what proportion of properties are specifically connected using Fibre to the Cabinet technology. Many urban properties can also access 30 Mbps speeds or more using cable networks, as well as 4G and 5G mobile services capable of delivering broadband speeds above the Universal Service Obligation thresholds.