Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the emergency services network masts will be designed and built to provide multi-occupancy sites from all four mobile network operators.

In delivering the Emergency Services Network (ESN), the mobile network operator EE will deliver up to 291 new mast sites. Government will deliver approximately 230 further sites (known as the “Extended Area Services” (EAS) sites) in the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain.

Under the terms of the State Aid decision for ESN, any ESN site where EE offers a commercial service must be made available to the other UK mobile operators and interested parties to provide their own a service on an equal and non-discriminatory basis.

There are 18 potential EAS sites being considered in the constituency of Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. There are currently up to 5 proposed new EE sites in the constituency. Delivery of these sites is subject to planning permission and the acquisition of land.