Asked by: Albert Owen (Labour - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what analysis his Department has undertaken of the relative benefits to the economy of access to (a) 2G, (b) 3G and (c) 4G mobile coverage.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
No such specific analysis has been done but the Government commissioned research by RAND to assess the value of the provision of mobile coverage in not-spot areas. It noted that there were perceived economic benefits associated with mobile coverage and the value of this varied with the size of business in question. The findings can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/412201/Mobile_network_not_spots_final_report.pdf
Ofcom’s 2014 Infrastructure Report also noted that mobile communication is vital to businesses and that 79% of small and medium-sized enterprises now use mobile phones.
Improving mobile coverage is a priority for the Government it secured a landmark agreement in December 2014 with the four mobile network operators (MNOs) to provide voice and SMS text coverage to at least 90% of the UK landmass by 2017. As a result of this legally binding obligation we also expect data coverage to improve. Furthermore, Telefonica has a licence obligation to deliver indoor 4G coverage to 98% of premises in the UK by 2017. Other MNOs have indicated that they will match this commitment. Taken together these obligations will be significantly improve coverage in the UK to benefit businesses and the digital economy.
Asked by: Albert Owen (Labour - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what analysis his Department has undertaken of the relative benefits to businesses of access to (a) 2G, (b) 3G and (c) 4G mobile coverage.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
No such specific analysis has been done but the Government commissioned research by RAND to assess the value of the provision of mobile coverage in not-spot areas. It noted that there were perceived economic benefits associated with mobile coverage and the value of this varied with the size of business in question. The findings can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/412201/Mobile_network_not_spots_final_report.pdf
Ofcom’s 2014 Infrastructure Report also noted that mobile communication is vital to businesses and that 79% of small and medium-sized enterprises now use mobile phones.
Improving mobile coverage is a priority for the Government it secured a landmark agreement in December 2014 with the four mobile network operators (MNOs) to provide voice and SMS text coverage to at least 90% of the UK landmass by 2017. As a result of this legally binding obligation we also expect data coverage to improve. Furthermore, Telefonica has a licence obligation to deliver indoor 4G coverage to 98% of premises in the UK by 2017. Other MNOs have indicated that they will match this commitment. Taken together these obligations will be significantly improve coverage in the UK to benefit businesses and the digital economy.
Asked by: Albert Owen (Labour - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what analysis his Department has undertaken of the benefits to the economy of superfast broadband access.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The UK Broadband Impact Study - Impact Report (November 2013), an expert report by analysts SQW (with Cambridge Econometrics), estimated that the availability and take-up of faster broadband speeds since 2008 will add about £17 billion to the UK’s annual Gross Value Added (GVA) by 2024. This level of uplift contributes an average of 0.07 percentage points to real annual GVA growth over this period. It also demonstrated that the benefits will be shared across the UK, helping the rebalancing of our economy.
Asked by: Albert Owen (Labour - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what analysis his Department has undertaken of the benefits to businesses of availability of superfast broadband across the UK.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The UK Broadband Impact Study - Impact Report (November 2013), an expert report by analysts SQW (with Cambridge Econometrics), estimated that the availability and take-up of faster broadband speeds since 2008 will add about £17 billion to the UK’s annual Gross Value Added (GVA) by 2024. This level of uplift contributes an average of 0.07 percentage points to real annual GVA growth over this period. It also demonstrated that the benefits will be shared across the UK, helping the rebalancing of our economy.
Asked by: Albert Owen (Labour - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Wales and (b) Ministers in the Welsh Government on the roll-out of 4G mobile telephone coverage in rural areas in Wales.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I have not had such discussions yet. As part of the 800MHz spectrum auction Telefonica has a licence condition requiring them to deliver 4G coverage to 98% of UK premises (and a minimum of 95% of premises in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) by 2017. Other mobile network operators have publicly stated an intention to match this coverage, so consumers should benefit from greater choice and greater coverage. Ofcom’s Infrastructure Report shows that as of June 2014 44% of premises in Wales had 4G coverage and 79% of Wales received 3G coverage.