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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect a system of national roaming would have on the frequency of dropped mobile telephone calls.

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.