Recommendations & Conclusions
6 items
6
Recommendation
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering gigab…
Deferred
The Department does not have a detailed plan to ensure that those in the very hardest to reach areas are not being left behind. The Department’s commitment to delivering 85% coverage by 2025 and full coverage by 2030 does not include those premises it has identified as the very hardest …
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The Department does not have a detailed plan to ensure that those in the very hardest to reach areas are not being left behind. The Department’s commitment to delivering 85% coverage by 2025 and full coverage by 2030 does not include those premises it has identified as the very hardest to reach. It estimates that fibre-based approaches are unlikely to work for around 134,000 or 0.3% of premises. In these hardest to reach areas, the potentially prohibitively high cost of rolling out full fibre broadband means that the Department is likely to need to use other technologies, such as satellite. At our last evidence session, in November 2020, the Department told us that it was assessing the value for money of alternative technologies for delivering the fastest speeds possible to hard-to-reach premises. However, a year later it is unable to offer any details or update on what new technologies are under consideration. Recommendation: In line with its Treasury Minute response, the Department should write to us setting out how it will reach the remaining 15% left out of the 2025 target, as well as the very hardest to reach 0.3%. This should include what progress it has made in developing and procuring new technologies. Delivering gigabit-capable broadband 9 1 Achieving the target of 85% gigabit coverage by 2025
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Government response AI summary
The department will need to reach three key milestones: completion of all remaining market surveys, signing a material number of contracts, and achieving sufficient clarity on the number of premises likely to be beyond the scope of the programme to be ready to form more …
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HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering gigab…
Deferred
The government’s decision in July 2020 to reduce its dependency on technology originating from certain high-risk vendors could introduce delays and additional expense to nationwide roll-out.61 The Department estimated that the removal of high-risk vendors’ 52 DRB0004 DCMS recall (Broadband), Internet Service Providers’ Association, 4 November, p. 2 and DRB0009 …
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The government’s decision in July 2020 to reduce its dependency on technology originating from certain high-risk vendors could introduce delays and additional expense to nationwide roll-out.61 The Department estimated that the removal of high-risk vendors’ 52 DRB0004 DCMS recall (Broadband), Internet Service Providers’ Association, 4 November, p. 2 and DRB0009 DCMS recall (Broadband), The Independent Networks Co-operative Association, 4 November, p. 4 53 DRB0005 DCMS recall (Broadband), Hertfordshire County Council, 4 November, p, 1,3 and DRB0011 DCMS recall (Broadband), Octopus Group, 4 November, para 4.6 54 Guidance on access agreements – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 55 DRB0009 DCMS recall (Broadband), The Independent Networks Co-operative Association, 4 November, p. 4 56 Q 51, DRB0007 DCMS recall (Broadband), Openreach, November 4, para 23 57 Q 42 58 Qq 43–45 59 Qq 46–49 60 Letter from Sarah Healey to PAC Chair Dame Meg Hillier Re: Improving Broadband, 23 November 2021 61 C&AG’s Report, para 15 Delivering gigabit-capable broadband 15 equipment from the network will have caused a delay in the full fibre roll-out of up to a year, and for 5G by two to three years.62 The Department told us that EE and BT have announced they are going to get 5G coverage to 90% of the population by 2028. However, the Department told us that it remained confident it will achieve its target of 85% gigabit- capable coverage by 2025, because of the pace at which commercial suppliers were working.63 62 Q63 63 Q64, 65–66 16 Delivering gigabit-capable broadband 3 Addressing digital inequality Connecting rural areas – the ‘Outside-In approach’
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Government response AI summary
BDUK will publish its profile to reach at least 5% of non-commercial premises by the end of 2025 in its 2022-23 corporate plan and will continue to publish quarterly updates. The department will publish further details later this year on policy options for premises beyond …
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HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering gigab…
Deferred
Those areas that currently have sub-superfast broadband speeds (30 Mbps or below) are more likely to be in the 20% of premises that the Department thinks will be unviable for commercial providers. Only 21% of premises in rural ‘county areas’ currently have access to gigabit-capable connections.68 We heard that some …
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Those areas that currently have sub-superfast broadband speeds (30 Mbps or below) are more likely to be in the 20% of premises that the Department thinks will be unviable for commercial providers. Only 21% of premises in rural ‘county areas’ currently have access to gigabit-capable connections.68 We heard that some rural areas or areas of economic deprivation, such as Blaenau Gwent in Wales, were previously supported by the Welsh Government with the previous Superfast broadband roll out. In contrast, we noted that roll-out of gigabit connectivity had been much slower and that at just 3% the area had one of the lowest levels of coverage.69 We therefore asked the Department what it was doing to ensure that these areas and other rural areas, such as the Cotswolds, were not being left behind. The Department told us about a number of activities it was undertaking including: the roll out of superfast broadband to those unable to receive 30 Mbps (about 40,000 premises expected within the next year); the voucher scheme, which is told us was active and very popular in Wales; and the public sector hubs programme which had reached some 600 public buildings in Wales. However, it also told us it only recently completed the initial data-gathering stages for new procurements and therefore no new Gigabit infrastructure contracts have been signed.70
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Government response AI summary
BDUK will publish its profile to reach at least 5% of non-commercial premises by the end of 2025 in its 2022-23 corporate plan and will continue to publish quarterly updates. The department will publish further details later this year on policy options for premises beyond …
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HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering gigab…
Deferred
The Department regards 0.3% of premises in the UK as being “very hard to reach, ” and acknowledged that these do not feature within its target of achieving full national coverage by 2030.77 These are typically the most rural and remote premises within the hardest to reach areas of the …
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The Department regards 0.3% of premises in the UK as being “very hard to reach, ” and acknowledged that these do not feature within its target of achieving full national coverage by 2030.77 These are typically the most rural and remote premises within the hardest to reach areas of the country, where the costs of delivering broadband are exponentially higher than in other areas and where traditional fibre-based approaches are unlikely to work.78 The Department estimated that this equates to about 134,000 premises.79
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Government response AI summary
A call for evidence was made in March 2021, and the government published its response in February 2022, and will publish further details later this year after assessing policy options. The department will address this recommendation in its letter to the Committee.
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HM Treasury
26
Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering gigab…
Deferred
At our last evidence session in November 2020, the Department told us that it was assessing the value for money of alternative technologies for delivering the fastest speeds possible to hard-to-reach premises.80 The Department told us that it was looking at what options were available to ensure connectivity in these …
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At our last evidence session in November 2020, the Department told us that it was assessing the value for money of alternative technologies for delivering the fastest speeds possible to hard-to-reach premises.80 The Department told us that it was looking at what options were available to ensure connectivity in these areas. We heard that it had launched a consultation to identify what kinds of approaches could be used. The Department’s call for evidence focussed on delivering improved broadband to very hard to reach premises closed in June 2021.81 71 Q 37–38 72 DCMS, Project Gigabit Delivery Plan Autumn Update, October 2021, p. 16 73 Q 20, 40 74 Q 40 75 Q 59 76 Q 59 77 Q 19 78 Qq 14, 34, DCMS Call for Evidence: Improving connectivity for Very Hard to Reach premises, p. 2, 19 March 2021 79 Q 13 80 Committee of Public Accounts Committee, Improving Broadband, Thirty-fifth Report of Session 2019–21, HC 688, 8 January 2021 81 Q 13–14, Improving broadband for Very Hard to Reach premises; 19 March 2021 18 Delivering gigabit-capable broadband
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Government response AI summary
The government published its response to the call for evidence in February 2022, and this evidence will be used to assess policy options to understand how best to address the small minority of premises that will be beyond the scope of the programme. The department …
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HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Delivering gigab…
Deferred
We asked why the Department had not made more progress in identifying what would be needed to connect the hardest to reach areas and how it would ensure that people in these aren’t were pushed to the back to the queue.82 The Department told us that “nothing is ruled out”. …
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We asked why the Department had not made more progress in identifying what would be needed to connect the hardest to reach areas and how it would ensure that people in these aren’t were pushed to the back to the queue.82 The Department told us that “nothing is ruled out”. It explained that in these areas, potential means of providing gigabit-capable coverage included wireless options, as well as the use of satellites such as those in the OneWeb and SpaceX Starlink programmes.83 The Department told us that the Government had spent $500 million on OneWeb and that the technology was “moving very fast” while improving year-on-year but were nonetheless expensive. It explained that OneWeb had entered into a deal with some of the operators in the UK, and that it was working with OneWeb to see whether it could bring down the costs and whether it might be a viable option for some of the hardest to reach areas. The Department asserted that it “might be a more creative and faster solution than some other options available” for the more remote areas and agreed to provide us with more detail on the programme.84 82 Qq 13, 20 83 Qq 13, 34–35 84 Qq 34–35, UK government to acquire cutting-edge satellite network – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Delivering gigabit-capable broadband 19
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Government response AI summary
A call for evidence was made in March 2021, and the government published its response in February 2022, and will publish further details later this year after assessing policy options. The department will address this recommendation in its letter to the Committee.
Read full response →
HM Treasury