Asked by: Lord Jack of Courance (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using emergency services masts to improve mobile phone coverage in rural parts of Scotland and the UK.
Answered by Margot James
In delivering the Emergency Services Network (ESN), the mobile network operator EE is delivering around 500 new sites (up to 291 of which will be funded by the Government) and upgrading its entire existing network. Over 300 of these new sites are in Scotland and all new sites are open to incoming site share applications from other Mobile Network Operators. Additionally, in the more remote areas of Great Britain, the Government, as part of its Extended Area Service (EAS) Programme, will deliver approximately 300 further sites for ESN and, potentially, for commercial coverage. 123 of these EAS sites will be in Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Jack of Courance (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with mobile phone operators on improving mobile phone coverage in rural parts of Scotland.
Answered by Margot James
Ministers regularly meet the Mobile Network Operators to discuss a range of issues including improving mobile phone coverage across the whole of the UK, including Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Jack of Courance (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the extent and quality of mobile phone coverage in Dumfries and Galloway.
Answered by Margot James
According to Ofcom's Connected Nations 2017 report (published on 15 December 2017), indoor premises voice coverage by at least one Mobile Network Operator (MNO) was 97% (with 63% from all four MNOs) in Dumfries and Galloway, while indoor premises data coverage was 96% (51% from all four).
However, the Government recognises that there is still more to do to improve coverage. That is why we reformed the Electronic Communications Code in 2017, to make it cheaper to install digital infrastructure and this should help improve coverage in the UK, including Scotland. We also welcome the Scottish Government's planning reforms introduced in 2017 that follow our 2016 reforms in England to support infrastructure rollout. We are committed to having good quality coverage where people live, work and travel and welcome that Ofcom is considering new licence obligations for rural coverage as part of the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction.
Asked by: Lord Jack of Courance (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to improve mobile phone coverage in Dumfries and Galloway.
Answered by Margot James
According to Ofcom's Connected Nations 2017 report (published on 15 December 2017), indoor premises voice coverage by at least one Mobile Network Operator (MNO) was 97% (with 63% from all four MNOs) in Dumfries and Galloway, while indoor premises data coverage was 96% (51% from all four).
However, the Government recognises that there is still more to do to improve coverage. That is why we reformed the Electronic Communications Code in 2017, to make it cheaper to install digital infrastructure and this should help improve coverage in the UK, including Scotland. We also welcome the Scottish Government's planning reforms introduced in 2017 that follow our 2016 reforms in England to support infrastructure rollout. We are committed to having good quality coverage where people live, work and travel and welcome that Ofcom is considering new licence obligations for rural coverage as part of the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction.
Asked by: Lord Jack of Courance (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the level of availability of DAB radio in rural parts of Scotland.
Answered by Margot James
DCMS does not collect this type of information. The independent communications regulator Ofcom publishes an annual review of the digital radio market, which includes data on the availability of DAB radio services by Nation. The last report was published in November 2017. DAB coverage figures for Scotland are set out in the table below.
| UK Wide BBC | UK wide commercial radio | |
Digital One | Sound Digital | ||
Scotland Homes | 95.3% | 81.7% | 65.4% |
Scotland Major roads | 69.1% | 45.5% | 32.5% |