HC Deb 15 October 2002 vol 390 cc670-1W
Mrs. Irene Adams

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many households have access to broadband services in(a) Paisley, North and (b) the UK, expressed as a percentage of the population. [73676]

Mr. Timms

Almost all households in the UK can receive broadband through satellite technology. 63 per cent. currently have access via ADSL, with 43 per cent. having access via cable modem. Around 67 per cent. of the population has access via one or both of ADSL and/or cable modem.

A map showing geographical availability of broadband services can be found in the UK Online Annual Report (http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/oee/ oee.nsf/sect i on s/repo rts-anrep2001-image s/$fil e/fig01.pdf).

The Government does not compile figures for broadband connections broken down into individual constituencies.

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of households have access to broadband services in Portsmouth, South; and if she will make a statement. [73873]

Mr. Timms

A map showing geographical availability of broadband services can be found in the UK Online Annual Report (http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/oee/oee.nsf/sections/reports-anrep2001-images/$file/fig01.pdf).

The Government does not compile figures for broadband connections broken down into individual constituencies.

Mr. Yeo

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many(a) homes and (b) businesses in the United Kingdom have broadband Internet access by (i) cable modem and (ii) ADSL; and if she will make a statement. [74386]

Ms Hewitt

Oftel's figures of September 2002, available on their website, reported that there were over 885,000 end users of broadband in the United Kingdom, of which over 490,000 were served by cable modem and 390,000 by ADSL. Since then, they have announced on 8 October that there are now in excess of one million users.

Around 14 million homes can receive DSL services and 13.3 million can receive cable modem. No recent data for numbers of businesses with broadband access are readily available.