Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with Ofcom on ensuring that there is adequate telecommunications coverage across the South West region.

Ofcom publishes figures on mobile and fixed broadband coverage across the UK twice a year in their Connected Nations report. The full report for 2025 is expected to be published by the end of this year.

Ofcom does not publish aggregate coverage figures at a regional level in their Connected Nations reports but does do so at a Local Authority and Westminster constituency level. There have already been mobile coverage uplifts across the South West from the Shared Rural Network programme, with further improvements to come in the region from the publicly funded element of the programme in Dartmoor and Exmoor.

Additionally, to improve gigabit broadband coverage, Openreach, Wildanet, Gigaclear and Wessex Internet are delivering a number of Project Gigabit contracts across the South West.