The Minister for Digital (Matt Hancock):...The Bill takes a further
step. Business rates are an important source of revenue for local
services, but have long been cited as a barrier to investment by
the telecoms sector. There has been consternation—as articulated by
my right hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon)—at how
the rates have been calculated. There was a perception of a
disparity or lack of fairness between the rates paid by some
operators, such as BT and Virgin...Request free trial
The Minister for Digital (Matt
Hancock):...The Bill takes a further step. Business rates
are an important source of revenue for local services, but have
long been cited as a barrier to investment by the telecoms sector.
There has been consternation—as articulated by my right hon. Friend
the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon)—at how the rates have been
calculated. There was a perception of a disparity or lack of
fairness between the rates paid by some operators, such as BT
and Virgin
Media, and smaller alternative networks such as
CityFibre and Gigaclear. The rating methodology is of course a
matter for the independent VOA, which has been working on this
issue with the sector, but it is complex work and we do not have a
moment to waste...
Mr (Wantage) (Con):...I
thank my hon. Friend for that point. In fact, although I
welcome Virgin
Media’s investment in cable in Didcot, the company has
irritated quite a few of my constituents on the Ladygrove estate,
so he is right that companies should clear up after themselves. I
suppose I did not make myself entirely clear; my point was that,
while councils should hold companies to account, their retribution
should not be, “You can’t do any more work,” because they would be
punishing constituents for companies’ past transgression...
Mr (North East Hampshire)
(Con):...Virgin
Media is now part of Liberty Global, which, to
deviate slightly, shows the importance of having a competitive
corporation tax regime. As has already been noted, a competitive
corporation tax regime means a company such as Liberty has invested
in Britain and bought Virgin
Media, and is now taking it forward. I would have
thought that the Bill will boost Virgin Media’s £3 billion “project
lightning” network expansion, as well as plans by Openreach, a
subsidiary of BT, to increase its investment in fibre optic. The
Bill will also help smaller alternative players, which my hon.
Friend the Member for North West Hampshire (Kit Malthouse) said
were priced out of the market in the past due to the impact of
business rates and other competitive and regulatory
pressures...
...Let me turn from BT, which has had a great benefit
from the current business rate arrangements, to Virgin
Media, which should benefit from this. I outlined that
earlier, but it is important to talk a little more about it to
outline the importance of the issue to a British company based in
my constituency; it has its corporate headquarters in Hook. It has
run a competition, through its own commercial judgment, to
supercharge local communities. Although the company has not yet
supercharged Hook, which is where it is based—I hope it is
listening and will do so shortly—it has agreed to supercharge
Hartley Wintney and Phoenix Green, just down the road. That means
that those places will have ultrafast fibre to the premises very
shortly, which is good news because residents there will get a head
start on what the Government aspire for the whole of the country to
receive. Those residents will receive fibre to the premises, which
means they will be eligible to get the 1 gigabit per second
telecommunications connectivity that is critical for the
future...
(Makerfield)
(Lab):...This is a framework Bill, so it is short on
detail. Conditions of eligibility will be outlined in future
regulations, for example, which is why we need to scrutinise the
Bill carefully. I do wonder which firms will benefit. The relief is
expected to boost the big data providers through, for
example, Virgin
Media’s £3 billion “project lightning” and BT’s
Openreach subsidiary, but it is unclear whether smaller firms will
benefit initially. What impact does the Minister expect the reform
to have on smaller providers? It would be a great shame if this
Bill was merely for big business. Would it help smaller firms if
the Bill’s provisions could be applied retrospectively to capture
work on full-fibre networks that has already taken
place?
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