Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure full mobile phone signal in (a) Bedford and (b) Kempston.

In Ofcom’s Connected Nations Spring Update, published on 8 May 2025, it is reported that 4G is available across 100% of the Bedford constituency from all four mobile network operators (MNOs), while 5G is available outside 72% of premises in the constituency from all four operators. Ofcom do not report on coverage at the town level.

Communities and businesses right across the UK should rightly expect to have the mobile connectivity they need to participate in the modern digital economy.

Our ambition is for all populated areas to have access to higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. Government continues to work closely with the MNOs, ensuring that we have the right policy and regulatory framework in place to support investment into mobile networks that delivers benefits to communities right across the UK.