Source · Select Committees · Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Industry’s calls for regulatory and business rate reform, as well as removing barriers to roll-out,...
Conclusion
Industry’s calls for regulatory and business rate reform, as well as removing barriers to roll-out, will not come as any surprise to Ministers; however, these long-standing policy recommendations demonstrate a gap between the Government’s ambition and the action it has taken to date. Even getting to 85% gigabit-capable coverage by 2025 will require a rapid rise in build rates and for industry to roll-out just as fast as under previous targets. Urgent action to address these barriers that stand in the way of them doing so is therefore as important as ever. (Paragraph 126) Broadband and the road to 5G 53
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The Government is delivering a highly ambitious programme to remove barriers to the deployment of gigabit-capable broadband, as set out earlier in this response. The work carried out to date has already had a galvanising effect on industry with gigabit-capable broadband now available to one in three premises (38% according to the latest figures from Think Broadband), compared to 10% in Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2019 report. By the end of 2021, we expect that more than half of the country will be connected to gigabit-capable networks. Furthermore, we are on track to ramp up to an annual full fibre build rate of over four million premises, which is comparable to the highest build rates in other European countries. In relation to business rates specifically, the Government is providing five years business rates relief for all new full fibre broadband built from April 2017. In addition, the Treasury is currently conducting a fundamental review of business rates. The Department has encouraged the telecoms industry to provide evidence to the review.