APPG meets with Internet Service Providers

On Wednesday 10th February, the new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Data Poverty, which is chaired by Labour MP Darren Jones, convened an industry roundtable to seek progress in the development of an affordable broadband ‘social tariff’. Attending the event, which was organised with the support of the Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA), were several major ISPs and alternative networks.

The roundtable followed incorporation of the APPG, whose officers include former Conservative Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Karen Bradley MP, senior Liberal Democrat peer Lord (Tim) Clement-Jones, Scottish National Party Education Spokesperson Carol Monaghan MP, and high-profile campaigners on digital inequality Julie Elliott MP and Siobhain McDonagh MP. 

The APPG builds on Mr Jones’ Ten-Minute Rule Bill on Internet Access, which was introduced in the House of Commons on 20th January. At the roundtable, Mr Jones, who chairs the House of Commons Business Committee, invited ISPs to partner with the new cross-party group and work to bring forward broadband products at a ‘social tariff’ of under £15 per month for the lowest-income households, the principal aim of his Bill. 

Participants discussed the nature of social tariff products currently on the market, barriers to individual providers developing new products, and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of an industry-wide approach to resolving these barriers. Mr Jones reiterated his hope that ISPs would make quick progress in offering affordable broadband without the need for statutory intervention, and committed to a continuing dialogue through further roundtables and the wider work of the APPG. 

Commenting, Mr Jones said: 

Nearly two million children are falling behind on their education during the pandemic because they don’t have sufficient access to the internet.

I’m grateful to internet service providers that recognise the need for a social tariff for broadband for families who need it and I look forward to working with them, as well as Ministers and Ofcom, in hastening progress towards that goal. 

The APPG on Data Poverty will work with industry to understand what barriers exist for companies building a social tariff broadband product and raise these concerns with government and the regulator. If industry is unable to provide a social tariff, however, we will be engaging with Ministers again to call for a statutory intervention.