Russell George, Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire, has (Friday 13th September) chaired a meeting at the Elephant & Castle Hotel in Newtown to discuss the issue of mobile coverage in North Powys.
Fielding questions from community leaders from across Montgomeryshire, some of whom have recently been experiencing a significant deterioration in their mobile coverage, representatives from all four mobile network operators (EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three) as well as the regulator, Ofcom, explained the measures which they are taking to improve mobile coverage in the area.
Following the meeting, Mr George said:
“In recent months, my postbag has been dominated by frustrated residents and businesses from across North Powys asking why, in the 21st century, they are unable to make a simple phone call or receive a text message.
“From Newtown to Llanwddyn, residents have complained in their hundreds about the deterioration in mobile coverage in recent months.
“As a result, I thought it was important to bring all four network operators and the regulator, Ofcom, to Mid Wales so that they could hear directly from community leaders about the day to day difficulties which residents experience due to the lack of a reliable mobile signal, and so that the operators could also explain the reasons behind recent issues which have been partly attributed to the rollout of new 4G services and new network sharing agreements between the operators. I had been told that it would be difficult to get all four operators to such a meeting, but I was pleased when they all accepted.
“The meeting was productive and I was encouraged to learn that all operators are intending to improve the experience of mobile users in the area by providing additional capacity on their networks, and that in some parts of Montgomeryshire, high speed 4G mobile services will soon be available. There was a commitment from EE that all of Newtown will receive 4G during January, and that this will also ensure that the current difficulties are all resolved. This is a commitment that I will be reminding the operator about in the new year.
“I was also pleased that some of the operators at least acknowledged the poor customer service which many mid wales customers had faced, and the operators were left under no illusions that they need to make big improvements to the way in which future coverage issues are communicated to their customers in a timely and efficient manner so that nobody is left in the dark when issues occur. I was further pleased that Ofcom, who regulate the industry, outlined their role, and confirmed that they would issue financial penalties, where appropriate, if improvements were not made.”
If you are experiencing on-going mobile coverage issues or have experienced a deterioration in service, Russell George AM would like to hear from you so please don’t hesitate to contact him by email: [email protected] or by phone: 01686 610887 to report any problems.