Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to improve the resilience of mobile networks during power outages in rural communities.

The Government recognises the importance of networks being as reliable as possible so that people can access the modern digital economy, communications providers have statutory responsibilities to take appropriate and proportionate measures to maintain the resilience of their networks. Power cuts can disrupt mobile services, but if the current mobile network is unavailable all emergency 999 calls automatically switch to other available networks.

Following a detailed review, Ofcom updated their regulatory guidance to operators in June 2026, confirming that mobile operators are expected to take robust measures to manage and mitigate against the risks of power outage. Government is also working closely with all of UK’s mobile operators and electricity network operators, so that industry implements measures to reduce the impact of power cuts on mobile services wherever possible.

The Government also welcomes new direct to device low earth orbit satellite services which are now available in the UK market, which can provide another means of connectivity when there is disruption to terrestrial networks.