§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he intends to take to provide assistance to businesses based in areas not scheduled for coverage by BT's ADSL roll-out programme. [139071]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 17 November 2000]: The Government will stimulate and promote industry investment in higher bandwidth services so that as many people as possible can get faster access to the Internet and other information services. For this reason, we are encouraging a range of higher bandwidth technologies, such as cable modems, third generation mobile phones, broadband fixed wireless and satellite services, as well as ADSL. To cover the areas that the market does not reach, we will work through the development agencies in the regions, and in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to develop effective strategies for the rollout of higher bandwidth services.