Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help improve mobile telephone signal in (a) Brancepeth Village, (b) County Durham and (c)) across the country.
Ofcom reports that 4G is available across 96% of the City of Durham constituency from all four mobile operators, while 5G (standalone and non-standalone) is available outside 94% of premises in the constituency from at least one operator.
However, I know Ofcom data does not always reflect lived experience and I have raised my concern about this with Ofcom. I welcome their much improved online mobile coverage checker which went live on 26 June.
I am keen to strengthen the mobile infrastructure across the UK, which is primarily the responsibility of the mobile operators, so I would urge the honourable member to engage directly with the mobile operators to encourage improvements in her patch.
We continue to work closely with the mobile operators and are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework in place to support investment into mobile networks and competition in the market.