Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2015 to Question 9926, what steps he is taking specifically to support fibre to the premises.

Mr Edward Vaizey

We are proposing action in a number of areas to encourage the market to invest in better fixed communications infrastructure.

We intend to reform the Electronic Communications Code – the statutory framework governing rights of access to private premises. We will be implementing the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive to help reduce the cost of rolling out high speed broadband. We will review the effectiveness of the fixed planning changes introduced in England in 2013 to determine whether they should be made permanent. We will also encourage and support innovative approaches in street works which can lower the cost and speed up deployment of faster broadband.

We will continue to look for new ways to support fixed infrastructure deployment in consultation with industry.