You may recall before the General Election, I did a call out for local people to get in touch if they had access problems to Superfast Broadband.
The response I got back, highlighted a number of random pockets in the local area – not-spots – that have no coverage and affect residents and even a school.
Since then I have been on to providers, BT Openreach and Virgin Media, and Digital Birmingham, the body responsible for the roll-out, trying to find ways to ensure the not-spots in our area will get resolved. Progress on this is ongoing.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, I took part in a Westminster Hall debate assessing the progress of Superfast Broadband nationally. The debate was very well attended and there was consensus amongst MPs of all parties that the issue is one of the most important infrastructure programmes which will shape the UK’s future.
However there are clear challenges preventing further progress, particularly the issue I raised that at the moment there is just not enough transparency and co-ordination between providers and local authorities. More information must be made more accessible not only about not-spots but also about take-up and speed of the service.
I will be continuing to follow this matter up, in the meantime you can watch the debate here – my intervention is at 14.41.
Finally, if you live in the Northfield constituency and too have problems with accessing superfast broadband, please get in touch.
You can check if you have access to superfast broadband by using the postcode checker here: https://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/.
