Telecommunications: Infrastructure

Department for Culture, Media and Sport written question – answered at on 4 April 2017.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Grant Shapps Grant Shapps Conservative, Welwyn Hatfield

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to incentivise innovation in internet communications infrastructure.

Photo of Matthew Hancock Matthew Hancock Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) (Digital Policy)

The Government is committed to creating a world-leading digital economy with connectivity wherever people live, travel and work. As part of this, we are investing £1.1bn to boost the UK's digital infrastructure and encourage innovation, including £200m to develop ways to accelerate market delivery of new full fibre broadband networks. Alongside the Spring 2017 Budget, we announced our new 5G Strategy setting out steps for the UK to become a world leader in the next wave of mobile technology. The Budget also included up to £16m for leading UK research institutions to cooperate on a cutting edge 5G facility to trial and demonstrate this exciting technology.

We have also conducted seven pilot projects to test different approaches to providing superfast broadband in the hardest to reach areas, forging new, innovative partnerships and showing that smaller suppliers can successfully deliver infrastructure. In addition, the government continues to work with industry to identify and reduce barriers to deployment of communications infrastructure and we have made significant progress, such as reducing planning burdens and introducing a new 100% business rates relief for new full fibre infrastructure for five years.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes0 people think so

No1 person thinks not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.