Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) households and (b) businesses unable to access broadband speeds of (i) 10 Mbit/s and (ii) two Mbit/s in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mr Edward Vaizey

According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2015 report – based on the state of the market in May 2015 – 8% of premises were unable to access broadband speeds of 10Mbp/s and 2% of premises were unable to access broadband speeds of 2Mbp/s. These figures are likely to have reduced due to continued commercial and BDUK broadband deployment across the UK – superfast broadband access has increased from 45% in 2010 to 90%, and by the end of next year, 95% of homes and businesses will have access to superfast broadband. In addition, all premises with speeds below 2Mbp/s now have access to speeds greater than this through the Government’s Basic Broadband Scheme, and the Prime Minister has announced the Government’s intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation, with a minimum speed of 10Mbps, to help ensure no-one is left behind.