Asked by: Craig Williams (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Extended Area Service are being constructed to a specification where they could be shared between all four Mobile Network Operators as part of the Shared Rural Network.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Extended Area Sites (EAS) are being built in the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain to supplement the infrastructure provided for the Emergency Services Network (ESN) by EE.
When an Extended Area Site (EAS) site is activated, it will be able to handle Emergency Service Network calls and data transmission. On the majority of sites, it will also be available for EE’s commercial customers to use.
Wherever possible, the design of mast structures will be future-proofed so they can easily be upgraded to offer a commercial service. We will make all 292 EAS sites available, where possible, for mobile network operators to deploy on them as part of the Shared Rural Network although we recognise that, in some cases, upgrades may not be possible due to technical, financial, or other reasons. I can confirm that 117 sites meet the criteria to be utilised as part of the shared Rural Network with work ongoing on the status of the remaining sites.