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Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee

Correspondence from the Department for DCMS re Broadband and the road to 5G report, 1 April 2021

Published 20 April 2021

Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Broadband and the road to 5G Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to Fourth Report - Broadband and the road to 5G.

This is the government's response, published 20 April 2021.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Secretary of State's letter supplies further information on the Department's response, setting out a target of a "minimum of 85% coverage by 2025" for gigabit-capable broadband and an ambition to get "as close to 100% as possible".

  • The Department states it is "confident that the 85% target will be met", citing coverage already reached and industry's commercial build ambitions, and says the government will monitor this closely, supported by Ofcom.
  • On funding, the £5 billion of capital funding "remains in place", with at least £1.2 billion to be spent in the period up to March 2025.
  • For semi-urban areas, the government anticipates a "substantial majority" will be served commercially by 2025. Where no operator has viable plans, it "will include these premises in the scope of our interventions".
  • On visas, the government points to existing routes, including the Skilled Worker visa, and notes the Migration Advisory Committee concluded there was "little evidence provided that there were insufficient resident workers to fill vacancies".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Sources