Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2024 to Question 14940 on Project Gigabit and Shared Rural Network, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the minimum signal strength to support remote working.

Ofcom reports that a 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speed connection is needed to support video calls and a consistent connection to the internet, and our expectation is that this would support remote working. Most networks in the UK, including those delivered by Project Gigabit, offer much higher performance.

The mobile signal strength thresholds Ofcom set for the Shared Rural Network are based on Ofcom’s assessment of what constitutes “good” mobile coverage which has been in place for several years and which broadly equates to successfully making a 90 second call and getting a download speed of at least 2Mbit/s. Whether this is sufficient to support remote working will depend on a number of factors, including the nature of the work being undertaken and the level of congestion on the network. We have asked Ofcom to keep under review what constitutes good 4G and 5G connectivity.

In response to my letter to their Chief Executive, Ofcom is considering how to incorporate different signal strength thresholds in its reporting on the availability of mobile networks.