Broadband Universal Service Obligation

I suspect that those Members who think that they do not have constituents with imperfect connecti...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. He mentioned 5G. I happened to find myself ...

I absolutely agree. My hon. Friend highlights the patchiness of the network. My hon. Friend the M...

I ought to point out that although I am very glad that my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr ...

I absolutely agree. There are calls from across the House for exactly that. I would add that for ...

I hope I can help my hon. Friends. I understand the House’s important focus on the worries and co...

I gather it is not correct to invite interventions, but the name of the Minister who was responsi...

I totally take on board the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey)...

My hon. Friend underlines the ubiquitous importance of broadband in whatever area of life we talk...

I would just like to take this opportunity to invite my right hon. Friend the Member for Wantage ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right.

May I, via my hon. Friend, accept that invitation? I will go to the constituency of my hon. Frien...

I am delighted to pass on that message.

Will my hon. Friend give way?

Oh, for heaven’s sake! Yes.

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. Does he agree that a number of innovative fi...

I agree, and I will come on to that in a moment. The USO must enable those innovative solutions, ...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is an absolute disgrace that Which? found that Scots have a...

I would say that wherever 4G has not been delivered to the extent operators often claim it is, we...

It is not just rural Scotland that suffers. In fact, most of my constituency has only a 2G signal...

I thank my hon. Friend. I will come to the importance of data in a moment.

Ofcom has not ye...

My hon. Friend mentions the one big family, BT. In my constituency, there are excellent companies...

Yes.

The Government’s indication that, in the hardest-to-reach areas, connections will be p...

Over the many months I spent on the HS2 Committee, I tried very hard to insist that we included a...

I absolutely agree with both points. It is daft that we are not fibring up every new housing deve...

Does my hon. Friend agree that Actual Experience provides free software that can be downloaded on...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Actual Experience, which has worked with Ofcom, provides an i...

The hon. Gentleman is generous in giving way. Does he agree with me that the heart of this issue ...

I agree that communities that are not connected are not connected to the modern world. That is pr...

Let me first congratulate the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) on securing this ...

Right honourable.

Right hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey); I beg his pardon. I remember the wording, as I heard i...

I agree with the hon. Gentleman’s points on universality. Llwyn Helyg country house is an award-w...

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. The same point has been made to me, and I am sure to...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. As he will know, Wales, including my Neath constituency...

It is essential that we put the infrastructure in place that will deliver for the whole of the Un...

The Superfast Cymru project is led and delivered by the Labour-run Welsh Government in Cardiff, s...

It is a matter of regret that the hon. Lady never misses an opportunity to be partisan. If she kn...

Right honourable.

He was rewarded for failure.

Right honourable. It is always good have personal connections in politics these days; one always ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not give way. There are delays in consumer provision reminiscent of the pre-privatisation ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that point?

I will not give way to the hon. Lady because she makes cheap political points.

In addition,...

rose—

I give way to the hon. Gentleman.

Right hon. Gentleman. I wanted to improve the quality of debate by bringing a couple of facts to ...

Order. If everybody is to get equal time, Members should take up to 10 minutes; if they do not do...

I am very aware of the position in Wrexham, because people contact me every week—every day, on oc...

May I remind Members to take up to 10 minutes and no more, so that everybody can have equal time?...

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. I shall make two or thr...

While we are talking about accuracy, does my right hon. Friend agree that it is inaccurate to say...

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. The rural superfast broadband programme has been a great su...

As it happens, I have the Akamai table here on my machine. Whereas the UK has a score of 13 for i...

I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend.

Apart from the dressing down of Lord Adonis at t...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Finally, the Government have already shown how forward-looking they are, under the stewardship of...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I will tell you in a minute why that is, Mr Deputy Speaker, after I have taken this noisy interve...

If I may interrupt the self-praise for one moment, I hang on the former Minister’s every word and...

I call the honourable Edward Vaizey.

Right honourable.

I call Edward Vaizey PC. Oh yes, your father was a peer.

Thank you for keeping me on my toes, Mr Deputy Speaker.

The hon. Member for Berwickshire, R...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey); he and I have had some ...

Labour promised 100% coverage of 2 megabits; it did not propose a universal service obligation th...

The right hon. Gentleman is leading with his chin. If he checks Hansard, he will see that he will...

I, too, pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) for openin...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) on securing this important a...

We have two speakers to get in before half-past 4. If they could split the time, it would be very...

Thank you for your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker, as I was not here for the opening speeches.

People consider broadband to be the fourth utility. Just as they turn on a tap and get water, fli...

Scotland aims for superfast, and my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde (Ronnie Cowan) demonstr...

That is the crucial point. Our Minister for Digital is separate from the Department for Business,...

I thank my hon. Friend, the other Callum in the House, for that excellent point. Telephony and IT...

When used with old-fashioned copper wires, 10 megabits can become a lot less than that. We need a...

I agree, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point.

The danger is that we are following...

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Calum Ke...

I join everyone else in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Wa...

We have been talking today about the access figures in. Does the Minister have the take-up figure...

That is an important point. The latest take-up figures are about to be published by Ofcom, but th...

My right hon. Friend is making a fantastic contribution on this USO, but the problem with the 95%...

Of course. Topography means that it is harder to deliver in rural areas, so we are introducing a ...

I let the Minister away with this bizarre comment in Committee, but he really must stop saying th...

We have been through this before; 10 megabits is our approach for the minimum. The hon. Gentleman...

I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way; it gives me the chance to thank him sincerely on beh...

My hon. Friend is completely right. We should be open-minded about technologies such as wi-fi. I ...

I have 80 seconds to sum up this debate, and it is fair to say that there is absolute consensus t...

That is very kind of you.

5 pm

Motion lapsed (Standing Order No. 9(3)).

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. As you know, both the Foreign Affairs Committee and the D...

I have a couple of points to make. First, I do not think it is correct to circumvent the right ho...

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would like to make a correction to an inadvertent error...

I think the House welcomes that correction, and I am sure the Minister will sleep better tonight ...