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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what mechanisms are in place to represent the interests of consumers in relation to the extent of mobile telephone coverage and prices in the event of changes to the number of mobile network operators.

The Communications Act 2003 places a principal duty on Ofcom to further the interests of citizens and of consumers, where appropriate by promoting competition. Ofcom set and enforce regulatory rules for the communications sector and have powers to enforce competition law in those sectors, alongside the Competition and Markets Authority. The competition authorities will take all relevant evidence on market circumstances, including market consolidation moves and any remedies elsewhere, into account when considering mergers and acquisitions that affect the UK market.

Under the infrastructure report, Ofcom will continue to report to my Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State on the coverage of communications networks across the UK and its nations, including publishing detailed maps of mobile network availability by operator. On 18 December my Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced a landmark agreement with the mobile network operators that they would extend mobile coverage to 90% of UK landmass by the end of 2017. This became a legally binding obligation in January 2015 through an amendment to the spectrum licences held by the mobile network operators.