Mobile phone coverage in the spotlight

Shropshire Council’s Leader Keith Barrow yesterday (Wednesday 3 June 2015) hosted a high-level briefing for business leaders and other key stakeholders from the Shropshire area about plans to improve mobile phone coverage in the county.

Key stakeholders from across Shropshire packed the council chamber at Shirehall to be briefed by Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and representatives from mobile operators EE, O2, Three & Vodafone.

Ofcom said that improving mobile phone signal coverage is a Government priority and that it’s helping to achieve this is three ways: releasing new radio spectrum, giving better coverage information to allow customers to make informed choices about which operator to use, and supporting Government-led initiatives, like the Mobile Infrastructure Project.

A spokesman from the Mobile Infrastructure Project (which is administered and funded by DCMS) talked about plans to improve mobile signal coverage in ‘not-spots’ around Shropshire between now and the end of March 2016.

The Mobile Operators Association, which represents all the operators that attended, said:

“We’ve been pleased to outline our plans for improving the scale and quality of mobile coverage in Shropshire over the next few years. It is part of a massive investment programme in the UK of £5 billion over the next three years. We have discussed some of the ways coverage can be speeded up and the practical ways that national and local politicians can support that to happen.

“Operators want to deliver the best service possible to consumers and businesses and 99% of the population already has mobile coverage. We have signed up to provide coverage in the next three years to 90% of the UK landmass. That’s a big challenge. We need support from local councils by giving planning permission for new sites or site sharing and upgrades to sites to roll out 4G or that 90% will be hard to deliver.

“We’re also asking national government for urgent reform to some outdated regulations to deliver a fair regime for mobile infrastructure to benefit customers now and support the UK’s digital economy in the future, not stop it in its tracks.”

Keith Barrow said:

“The briefing was really well attended and goes to show how important the issue of mobile phone coverage, or lack of it, is for people who live, work and visit Shropshire. That’s why Shropshire Council has stepped in and called the main players together to provide a briefing on their plans for Shropshire.

“All parties are pushing to improve coverage as much as possible and, henceforth, Shropshire Council will act as a conduit between the infrastructure providers and communities to make sure this happens as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Further information

For more information, please contact Shropshire Council’s media team on 01743 252826 or email adam.spreckley@ipande.co.uk.

(All Shropshire Council news stories can be read at http://shropshire.gov.uk/news/)

About Connecting Shropshire

The Connecting Shropshire programme is bringing fibre based broadband to areas where it isn’t economically viable for commercial companies to provide do so. It’s a partnership between Shropshire Council, BT and Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) that will enable more than 62,000 homes and businesses in Shropshire (excluding Telford and Wrekin) to access faster broadband by the end of 2016.

Connecting Shropshire programme website: http://connectingshropshire.co.uk/

Superfast Britain is a Government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, this investment helps businesses to grow, creates jobs and will make Britain more competitive in the global race. The portfolio is comprised of three elements:

• £780m to extend superfast broadband to 95 per cent of the UK by 2017
• £150m to provide high speed broadband to businesses in 22 cities
• £150m to improve quality and coverage of mobile phone and basic data network services

Administered on behalf of Government by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), Superfast Britain is transforming Britain by promoting growth, enabling skills and learning, and improving quality of life. For further information, see: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk