Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the potential financial costs for consumers of a system of national roaming; and what discussions he has had with mobile telephone operators about the effect of those costs on consumer bills.

I have recently consulted on potential measures to tackle partial not-spots in mobile phone coverage, including on national roaming. The consultation document and accompanying Impact Assessment set out my analysis of the potential impacts of each option under consideration on the telecoms industry and consumers.

We received a large amount of new information in response to the consultation, including from the four UK mobile network operators (EE, Three, Telefonica, Vodafone). My officials are currently analysing this information ahead of a final policy decision.