Mobile Phones: Rural and Coastal Areas
(asked on 13th July 2026) - View Source
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 improve mobile coverage in rural and coastal areas.
Answered by
Kanishka Narayan
Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
Our ambition is for all populated areas to have access to high quality standalone 5G by 2030. This includes rural and coastal communities across the UK. The rollout is commercially led by the network operators with all three operators having committed to significant investment plans which align with this Government’s ambition.
Government is undertaking a Mobile Market Review with the aim of better understanding how Government can go further in supporting the sector to invest in widespread, high-quality connectivity, as well as continuing efforts to identify and remove barriers to telecoms deployment.
4G connectivity remains important for many and with the help of Government’s Shared Rural Network programme, 4G coverage is now available to over 96% of UK landmass. The programme continues to support the delivery of 4G connectivity improvements to some of the hardest to reach areas of the UK, including South Devon, where a Government-funded SRN mast has been upgraded and activated to provide additional 4G coverage in the Newton Abbot area.