Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, in how many local authority areas in (a) London and (b) England broadband speeds are below the recommended speed as advised by Ofcom.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Superfast broadband with speeds of at least 24Mbps is now available to 90 per cent of UK premises and this will reach 95 per cent by December 2017. The Government has also implemented a basic broadband scheme to enable all premises to gain access to speeds of at least 2Mbps. This enables residents and businesses in all parts of the UK to gain access to every government service available online.

In addition it is the Government’s intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation that will give people the legal right to request a broadband connection, no matter where they live, by the end of this Parliament. Our ambition is that this should initially be set at 10 Mbps.

There is no specific recommended speed advised by Ofcom.