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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Wales and (b) Ministers in the Welsh Government on the roll-out of 4G mobile telephone coverage in rural areas in Wales.

I have not had such discussions yet. As part of the 800MHz spectrum auction Telefonica has a licence condition requiring them to deliver 4G coverage to 98% of UK premises (and a minimum of 95% of premises in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) by 2017. Other mobile network operators have publicly stated an intention to match this coverage, so consumers should benefit from greater choice and greater coverage. Ofcom’s Infrastructure Report shows that as of June 2014 44% of premises in Wales had 4G coverage and 79% of Wales received 3G coverage.