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Minister Must Act Now On Poor Mobile Phone Coverage

By December 30, 2016No Comments

Comreg has revealed this it is considering making changes to future mobile phone licences so that companies are obliged to include remote rural areas in their network coverage instead of just cities and big towns. That sounds great, but when you consider that it will be 2019 at the earliest before this strategy comes into place. In the meantime several rural areas have very poor and in many cases no mobile coverage at all.

We have the promise of 5G in 2019, and while Comreg might be planning to demand more from those applying for licences, the situation at the moment is that for many people in rural areas including myself, mobile phone coverage is very poor and in some cases not there at all. I am calling on the Minster to address this issue immediately. There are many people in rural areas who cannot go about their daily lives because they have poor mobile coverage or none at all. Do these people have to wait until 2019 at the earliest before they have an acceptable service? It is a huge issue in many rural areas. I have raised it before on a number of occasions and will be continuing to raise it until we have action.

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