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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 3 November (HL9493), whether the commitment to provide gigabit-capable broadband nationwide will be rolled out equitably between rural and urban communities.

The Government is committed to delivering nationwide gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible, in both urban and rural areas. The Government is supporting commercial gigabit capable broadband deployment to the majority of the country (c. 80% of premises) by encouraging greater network competition and removing barriers to deployment. To ensure that areas in the harder to reach 20% of the country - which are predominantly rural and more remote - get gigabit capable broadband in parallel to commercial build, the Budget committed the Government to invest £5 billion into these areas.