The Department has so far been overly reliant on the contributions of commercial suppliers in improving gigabit coverage. The Department is reliant on suppliers to deliver gigabit coverage to 80% of UK premises without subsidy. Between May and October 2021, national gigabit coverage increased from 40% to 57%. The Department acknowledges that Virgin Media O2’s upgrade of its cable network contributed significantly to the increase in gigabit availability during this period, although it is unable to provide a figure for this. The Virgin Media O2 upgrade provides gigabit availability, but this is not achieved through full fibre technology, which is more future proof but requires new infrastructure. While companies such as Virgin Media O2 have set out their intention to further future proof their networks over time, once the current upgrade of existing cables has been completed there will remain a gap in coverage if the Department does not put in place further contracts to build the gigabit infrastructure. The Department told us it has extended some of the contracts it had in place for the delivery of superfast broadband to now enable gigabit-capable connections. In some areas it is also supplying gigabit vouchers to communities to pay for gigabit-capable connections in areas where it is not commercially viable to do so. However, it has not yet signed any new gigabit infrastructure contracts of its own. 6 Delivering gigabit-capable broadband Recommendation: In line with its Treasury Minute response, the Department should set out what progress it has made towards its coverage target of 85% by