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Press release

Millions of homeowners and tenants to get better access to faster broadband

Almost all new homes in England must be built with gigabit broadband
connections during construction

From:
[39]Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and [40]Julia
Lopez MP

Published
6 January 2023

* New laws will also mean it is easier for home buyers, renters and
some leaseholders to get upgrades to lightning-fast broadband
* Measures will end the problem of unresponsive landlords preventing
tenants from receiving faster connections.

New homes in England will be built with gigabit broadband connections
and telecoms firms will be able to get faster broadband to nine million
people living in blocks of flats across the UK, thanks to new laws the
government has brought into force.

Ministers have amended the [41]Building Regulations 2010 to ensure that
new homes constructed in England will be fitted with infrastructure and
connections capable of delivering gigabit broadband - the fastest
internet speeds on the market.

Gigabit broadband is now available in over 72 per cent of the UK and is
already boosting boost productivity for millions working at home
through lightning fast download speeds, as well as enabling entire
families to stream movies, TV and video games in high quality 4K and 8K
definition onto multiple devices at the same time with no slowdowns in
speed.

The updated regulations mean that more people moving into new homes
will have a gigabit-capable broadband connection ready when
construction is completed, avoiding the need for costly and disruptive
installation work after the home is built and enabling residents to
arrange the best possible internet service at the point they move in.

In a further boost to people's access to better broadband, another new
law has made it easier to install faster internet connections in blocks
of flats when landlords repeatedly ignore requests for access from
broadband firms.

The [42]Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act
(TILPA), now in force in England and Wales, makes it easier for
broadband providers to gain access to install equipment in blocks of
flats, when a faster connection is requested by a tenant. It is
estimated that an extra 2,100 residential buildings a year will be
connected as a result.

Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez said:

Nothing should stop people from seizing the benefits of better
broadband, whether it is an unresponsive landlord or a property
developer's failure to act.

Thanks to our new laws, millions of renters will no longer be
prevented from getting a broadband upgrade due to the silence of
their landlord, and those moving into newly built homes can be
confident they'll have access to the fastest speeds available from
the day they move in.

Driven by government policy, the market has made significant strides to
ensure availability of gigabit connectivity in new homes - but
thousands of homes each year do not get access.

Data referenced in the government's [43]technical consultation
suggested that approximately 12 per cent, around 25,300 homes, still
did not have access to a full fibre connection upon construction in a
typical year.

The updated building rules mean home developers will be legally
required to future-proof new homes in England for next-generation
gigabit broadband as standard practice during construction.

Connection costs will be capped at £2,000 per home for developers and
they will work together with network operators to connect developments
to the gigabit network. It is estimated over 98 per cent of premises
fall within this cap, meaning moving into a new build property without
lightning-fast internet speeds will become a thing of the past for the
vast majority of people across England.

Where a developer is unable to secure a gigabit-capable connection
within the cost cap, developers must install the next fastest
connection available.

And even where a gigabit-capable connection is not available within the
cost cap, gigabit-ready infrastructure, such as ducts, chambers and
termination points, still needs to be installed. This will ensure that
homes are fit for the digital age but may not be connected straight
away.

Making broadband upgrades easier in blocks of flats

Previously, tenants living in the UK's estimated 480,000 blocks of
flats and apartments (also known as multi-dwelling units, or MDUs)
would usually have had to wait for a landlord's permission to have a
broadband operator enter their building to install a faster connection.
These access rights are essential for the delivery of broadband
upgrades as operators are unable to deploy their services without first
obtaining permission, either from the landowner or a court, to install
their equipment.

Broadband companies have said around 40 per cent of their requests for
access to install connections receive no response, which means they may
lose out on the revolutionary benefits of faster speeds.

Now, providers in England and Wales will be able to seek rights to
access a property or shared land if the person required to grant access
is unresponsive. The law does this by creating a new route through the
courts that operators can use to access blocks of flats and apartments.

It will prevent situations where a tenant is unable to receive a
service simply due to the silence of a landlord. From the point where a
company makes the first request to the landlord, it will take 35 days
for this new rule to kick in.

ENDS

Notes to editors

* Both of these new laws came into force on December 26 2022.
* Regarding new build connectivity, The Building etc. (Amendment)
(England) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 updates the Building Regulations
2010 and The Building (Approved Inspectors etc.) Regulations 2010
to mandate the installation of gigabit-ready infrastructure and
gigabit-capable connections where these can be provided within a
cost cap. The legislation is [44]here.
* The Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act
(TILPA) has added a new court process to the Electronic
Communications Code. The legislation is [45]here.
* The new process to allow telecoms and broadband providers to gain
access to premises where a service is requested will also come into
force in Scotland in the summer.
* More than seventy per cent of premises can now access gigabit
broadband, up from just six per cent in 2019.

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Published 6 January 2023

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