Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Shared Rural Network on 4G mobile signals across (a) the UK and (b) North Shropshire constituency.

With industry, we are investing £1 billion in the Shared Rural Network (SRN) to extend 4G coverage to 95% of the UK landmass by the end of 2025. The UK will see coverage improvements to partial not-spots, areas where there is coverage from at least one but not all Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), and to total not-spots, where there is no coverage from any operator.

The SRN programme is also regulated by Ofcom, with regular reporting throughout the life of the programme to ensure agreed obligations and targets are met.

Any improvements from the SRN programme in North Shropshire will come from the industry-led element of the programme and as such DSIT are unable to provide any details on the precise location or number of new or upgraded masts that may be delivered specifically in North Shropshire as a result of the SRN.