To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the number of network providers needed for effective competition in the fixed telecommunications infrastructure sector.

As a result of our pro-competition policies, there is now a thriving market of over 80 providers investing nearly £35bn rolling out gigabit broadband all over the UK. Whilst we are in favour of sustainable long term competition, the Government does not have a view on the specific number of providers we would like to see. In the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, published in 2018, we estimated that at least a third of UK premises are likely to be able to support three or more competing gigabit-capable networks, with up to half likely to be able to support competition between two gigabit-capable networks.