Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the specification for the new Emergency Services Network (ESN) masts allows adequate physical space to accommodate additional radio (a) equipment, (b) power and (c) broadband connections to link back to core networks for network providers other than EE, who have the contract for the erection of those ESN masts.

To provide the necessary coverage for the emergency services, EE is building over c450 new sites, up to 291 of these new sites will transfer to the Home Office at the end of the contract. Details of these sites can be found on the site sharing website “https://www.site-share-olo.com” which is open to mobile network operators (MNOs) to see.

For all new sites being built by EE (for ESN), they are encouraging sharing with the other MNOs through a clear and well-understood industry process, in line with our State Aid requirements.

As you may know the ESN was designed first and foremost to provide a new and modern communications network for the emergency services. However, the Government fully understands that there is a considerable amount of local feeling regarding mobile connectivity.

Therefore, in the most remote and rural areas of Great Britain where the Government will deliver approximately 300 further sites as part of the Extended Area Service (EAS) project, subject to local planning authorities granting planning for lattice mast structures (as opposed to monopoles), many of these EAS sites are also expected to support commercial coverage, where MNOs express an interest in doing so.

The Home Office has shared all provisional locations for these mast structures with all four of the UK’s MNOs.