Last week (Tuesday 2nd December), the National Assembly for Wales’ Cross Party Group on Digital Communications met to discuss mobile coverage in Wales.
Chaired by the AM for Montgomeryshire, Russell George, the Group, which has representation from all four political parties in the National Assembly, was pleased to hear from Vodafone, EE and Three on their plans to improve coverage in Wales.
Following the meeting, Mr George said:
“I’m delighted that representatives from three of the four mobile network operators, Vodafone, EE and Three, were able to update the Cross Party Group on their work to improve mobile coverage in Wales.
“While it was disappointing that O2 couldn’t attend, we had a lively and constructive discussion about some of the significant developments which have been occurring.
“In recent years, there have been significant developments with the launch of new 4G services; new network sharing agreements between the operators; the UK Government’s Mobile Infrastructure Project which seeks to resolve the remaining mobile notspots in Wales; and the recent announcement that the UK Government intends to mandate mobile roaming.
“All of this provided an interesting context to our discussions and while there was disagreement from operators that compulsory roaming was the best way of tackling the problem of notspots in rural Wales, there was a feeling that there is willingness for progress to be made through greater collaboration between the competing operators.
“We also left with a greater understanding of some of the ongoing obstacles and issues which continue to affect coverage and I was pleased to have detailed discussions on mobile operators’ plans to improve coverage in Montgomeryshire.
“The Cross Party Group will continue to keep a close eye on progress and looks to Government, Ofcom and the industry to make a concerted effort in overcoming the challenges which exist in preventing the rollout of the Mobile Infrastructure Project in order to resolve the issue of mobile notspots which still plague rural Wales."