Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential effectiveness of the commercial rollout in filling remaining coverage gaps once the Shared Rural Network programme ends in January 2027.

Ofcom reports on mobile network coverage across the UK, and whilst the Shared Rural Network (SRN) has successfully delivered its objective of 95% 4G coverage across the UK landmass by the end of 2025, some gaps will remain.

Currently, over 96% of the UK landmass has 4G coverage from at least one operator. For any remaining areas, we continue to consider the best approach including the development and deployment of satellite Direct to Device mobile services which, while currently only providing basic services, have the potential to provide a mobile service in areas where it is not possible to deliver terrestrial coverage.