Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to accelearate the rollout of standalone 5G to a) urban and b) rural areas in the UK.

The Government’s ambition is for all populated areas of the UK to have access to higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. Our ambition goes further than just the largest towns and cities and includes many rural areas across the UK. Delivery of this ambition is commercially led by the three mobile network operators (MNOs).

The network operators have committed significant investment which aligns with Government’s ambition and we are working with MNOs to ensure that this investment translates into benefits for communities right across the UK.

Significant progress has already been made with Ofcom reporting in their Connected Nations Report 2025 that standalone 5G is now available outside of 83% of premises across the UK, but we know there is more to do in some areas.

Government is undertaking a Mobile Market Review to assess the impact of technological, structural and financial market developments on investment in comprehensive high-quality mobile connectivity across the UK.

In parallel we are working to identify and address barriers to deployment of mobile infrastructure. This includes publishing a call for evidence to help determine where planning rules could be relaxed to support the deployment of mobile infrastructure, which closed on 26, February. We are now reviewing the evidence gathered which will inform our next steps.