Project Gigabit: Rural Areas

4. What steps she is taking to ensure the Project Gigabit roll-out prioritises rural areas with poor levels of broadband connectivity.

I am answering today on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Minister for Digital Government, who is away on other duties. As of September 2025, more than 1.3 million premises in rural and hard-to-reach communities across the UK have already been upgraded to gigabit-capable broadband through Government-funded programmes. More than 1 million premises are included in the £2.4 billion-worth of signed Project Gigabit contracts. That includes a £175 million contract with Openreach to deliver gigabit-capable broadband across Scotland, including approximately 8,300 premises in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

The figures are impressive, but 10% of constituents in the Western Isles cannot get more than 10 megabits a second. While I welcome Project Gigabit, the islanders tell me that the areas first being considered for connection already have good fibre connection. They are getting a fibre upgrade, while people perhaps just a few hundred yards off the main fibre cable running the length of the island are left hanging on a copper line. Will the Minister press Openreach to ensure that it makes these hard-to-reach connections and does not just rely on easy connections and big figures to convince Ministers that it is doing its job?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to press this issue. Project Gigabit delivers gigabit-capable broadband to parts of the UK that are unlikely to be reached by the commercial market alone. However, as Project Gigabit extends its coverage, it will increasingly also cover properties that already have superfast availability. For premises located in very hard-to-reach areas, we are continuing to explore how Government can further enable alternatives to fibre connections, such as through satellites and fixed wireless access. I urge my hon. Friend to remind his constituents that, through the broadband universal service obligation, consumers always have a right to a decent broadband connection of at least 10 megabits per second of download speed.

The new Project Gigabit contract for Cheshire, expected to be in place by the spring, will cover only around a third of the premises in Chester South and Eddisbury that currently lack adequate broadband. I have raised this issue repeatedly, but I am still without a clear answer. Can the Minister now set out what specific plans exist for the remaining 10,000 homes and businesses, mostly in rural areas, that are not included in this new contract? When can those premises realistically expect to be connected?

As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Torcuil Crichton), we are currently looking at how we can further enable alternatives to fibre access, such as satellites and fixed wireless access. I am sure that the Minister for Digital Government will be happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss the specific issues in her constituency, as he would be for my hon. Friend the Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar.