Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of encouraging mobile network roaming in rural areas.

The Government agreed a deal with the mobile network operators (MNOs) in March 2020 to deliver the Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme. This agreement will see the Government and industry jointly invest over £1 billion to increase 4G mobile coverage throughout the UK to 95% geographic coverage by the end of 2025, underpinned by licence obligations. The SRN will improve rural 4G coverage, reducing the digital divide between rural and urban areas of the UK, enabling rural businesses and communities to thrive. Any decisions on rural roaming are commercial decisions for mobile operators.

The Code of Practice for the Public Emergency Call Service requires that any call from a mobile phone will automatically roam onto another mobile network free-of-charge to make an emergency call if they have no signal from their own provider. The SRN will deliver new masts in total not-spot areas which will enable calls to 999 to be made through the mobile network for the first time in these areas.