Mobile Phones: Standards

(asked on 13th October 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help improve mobile phone coverage in (a) London and (b) England.


Answered by
John Whittingdale Portrait
John Whittingdale
This question was answered on 23rd October 2023

This Government is taking steps to improve both 4G and 5G coverage across the country.

Improvements in 4G coverage have already started to be delivered across England through the Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme. This agreement will see the government and industry jointly invest over £1 billion to increase 4G mobile coverage across the UK to 95%.

London already has good 4G and, as with other cities, will not be targeted by the SRN programme. However, in addition to the SRN, the mobile network operators independently invest around £2 billion annually in enhancing and improving their networks.

In our Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, published in April this year, we set out the Government’s vision for wireless connectivity and shared a new ambition for nationwide coverage of standalone 5G in all populated areas by 2030. This provides a long-term vision to help the private sector invest in 5G networks by supporting competition, driving down deployment costs and driving the take-up of innovative, 5G-enabled tech by the business and public sectors.

The Department provides extensive guidance for local authorities and operators to help facilitate broadband deployment through the Digital Connectivity Portal. We have also taken steps to make it easier and cheaper for operators to deploy 4G and 5G. This includes reforming the planning system in England. Alongside this, measures within the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022, will support upgrades of sites to 5G.

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