Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of whether Ofcom's proposed benchmark for mobile network performance is sufficient to move the UK into the top third of OECD countries for mobile quality on a sustained basis.

Ofcom is an independent regulator, and its proposed performance benchmark is part of an ongoing discussion on defining a measure of good mobile performance based on a set of performance thresholds that indicate a good overall user experience. This discussion, alongside the detailed evidence gathered through our Mobile Market Review Call for Evidence, will inform the Government’s thinking on what “good” network performance means for consumers, the public sector and businesses. Our Call for Evidence closed on 5 May; we are reviewing responses and will set out next steps later this year.

It should be noted that the current thresholds that the OECD uses for measuring mobile network performance, and the achievements of nations within that benchmark, will evolve over time. This is why Government has restated, in the Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum and postal services, that Ofcom’s definitions of what constitutes “good” 4G and 5G and the signal strength thresholds it uses to measure this, should be kept under review to reflect evolving consumer and business expectations and behaviours.