One of the most regular issues that you contact me about is access to broadband and mobile phone connectivity, particularly in our most rural areas. The Government has made major progress since 2010 on upgrading and building new infrastructure, but that is a major task that needs to consider the benefits of more connections for everyone against the impact on the environment of new masts and pylons.
The quickest and cheapest way to get fast connections to people’s homes and businesses is by upgrading existing cabinets to fibre-optic cables so that superfast broadband can be supplied down existing wires. But there are problems with this. If your home is too far from the cabinet, the degradation of the signal down the copper wire means you can see no real improvement - a problem that I experience myself at home even in the middle of Leek. In built up residential areas, too many people also often want access to the same cabinet and that means speeds are not as fast as they should be. The alternatives to upgrading cabinets are using satellites, which are costly and affected by the weather – so not great in the Moorlands sometimes – or full fibre direct to your home, which is unfortunately still prohibitively expensive for many rural communities.
When I was Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, I pushed for more full fibre to be rolled out, but I was also excited by the opportunities that 5G technology could bring. I visited Scandinavia and South Korea to meet those leading research in the area to see for myself how we could harness this technology in the UK. Since then, the UK has taken a real leadership role. We are developing ways to get the same speed as fibre into homes without the need for cables to each house or office. Last week my old department started rolling out 5G technology into rural areas and I will make sure that the Moorlands bids for this opportunity.
Additionally, DCMS launched a consultation on how new masts might help to improve mobile connectivity. The consultation is open on the Gov.uk website until 4 November and it’s vital that you have your say so that we get the right planning laws in place.