Conor McGinn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the time taken to (a) implement broadband roll-out and (b) tackle non-spots on people and businesses in (i) St Helens North constituency, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) the UK.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Government is committed to achieving the availability of superfast broadband to 95% of UK premises by December 2017. In May 2015 superfast coverage had reached 83% of UK premises.Of the 44,815 premises in the St Helens North constituency we estimate that 94% will have superfast broadband available to them through planned commercial rollout. The Connected Merseyside project will add a further 4% to that total.

Telefonica (O2) have agreed a licence obligation to deliver indoor 4G coverage to 98% of premises in the UK by 2017; other Mobile Network Operators have indicated that they will also match this commitment.