Rural Mobile Connectivity

Ann Davies Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) on securing this debate. Over the past 20 months or so since coming into this House, I think that rural connectivity has been the most constant issue in my inbox, which is really not surprising when we consider the fact that my constituency is 69% rural and still suffers from a large number of notspots.

A report issued by Vodafone in November 2023 found that nearly half of rural deprived areas are classed as 5G notspots, whereas the same can be said of only 2.7% of urban deprived areas. Ofcom’s “Connected Nations” report, published in November 2025, provided further evidence of rural areas lagging behind urban areas in both 5G and 4G access. Both those reports show how rural connectivity falls short of what urban areas receive.

Over the past few years, the shared rural network, which is funded through private investment and public money, has worked reasonably well in Caerfyrddin, with an additional number of masts being built in hard-to-reach areas. Like the hon. Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham), I have had two masts built in my constituency on the shared rural network scheme, but neither has been switched on. The mast in Myddfai has power and is ready to go, but Vodafone is yet to turn on the network. In Llanwinio, the mast has been built—again, over a year ago—but there is still no power connected to it. Its electricity was due to be connected in January, but based on the timescale for building the Myddfai mast, we could be waiting another year before connectivity is switched on—it really is not good enough. Public purse funding has been poured into both mast projects, and there is nothing to show for it, at a time when digital connectivity is seriously needed.

Broadband access in the rural parts of my constituency is also not good enough. Rural businesses, including farms, now rely on connectivity for all transactions, including banking, tax and VAT returns, reports on the British Cattle Movement Service’s cattle tracing system and payments in our rural village shops. The results from the National Farmers Union’s rural digital survey are worrying. As has been mentioned, 21% of respondents have broadband speeds of less than 10 megabits per second, compared with the national average of less than 1%, and only 22% report having reliable mobile signal across their entire farms. It is just not good enough.

Rural homes and businesses must be able to contact emergency services as and when they need to. During Storm Darragh, which was far worse for us than any of the recent storms, the digitalisation of our tele- communication systems meant that the networks failed. Although batteries help, according to one of my constituents just last week, businesses are not eligible for those, as only domestic dwellings can have battery back-ups. People were left with no means of communication and unable to reach emergency services, which is unacceptable. We must ensure that when public money is spent on upgrading networks, they are switched on and actually work for the communities in which they are built.

Finally, Caerfyrddin includes some of the hardest-to-reach homes, with properties tucked deep into valleys or set in extremely remote locations. In those areas, it is much harder for traditional masts to provide reliable coverage, no matter how many are built. That is why it is essential that a satellite solution is available and affordable for all the households that will otherwise be left behind. Starlink currently charges around £75 per month for network coverage, which is not affordable for many of my constituents. I hope that in the next year or so competition will make that cheaper, and that other companies can provide that service. Whatever system communities and constituents use, it must work. It must be reliable and affordable, especially when public money has been used in good faith.