Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he or Ofcom have made an assessment or hold information on the proportion of BT’s ducts that were able to have fibre blown through them without further civil works in the superfast broadband rollout.

Mr Edward Vaizey

BT and other suppliers with funding from BDUK are obliged to provide wholesale access to all new ducts and poles built using public subsidy, in line with the requirements of the BDUK European State aid approval.

Ofcom has not conducted an assessment of the proportion of ducts that were able to have fibre blown through them without further civil works in the subsequent superfast broadband rollout. Ofcom does not hold any other information on the proportion of BT’s ducts that were able to have fibre blown through them without further civil works.