Mobile operators agree deal to reduce ‘not-spots’
O2, EE, Three and Vodafone commit to improve coverage by 2017.
The Government has secured a deal with four major mobile operators to improve coverage for mobile users across the UK.
EE, O2, Three and Vodafone have agreed to invest £5 billion and guarantee coverage for calls and text mesages across 90% of the UK by 2017.
It's hoped the move will tackle so-called ‘not-spots’ where signal strength is patchy or non-existent.
The providers rejected the Government's preferred option of a system allowing customers of one network to use another if their own wasn't available.
Under the agreement, partial ‘not-spots’ - areas where there is some coverage but not from all four networks - will be cut in half. Full coverage from all four providers should increase from 69% to 85% of the UK by 2017.
Many areas will also receive better data coverage as a result of the improvements.
Ofcom, the Telecoms regulator, will enforce the legally-binding deal. No money will be supplied from the Government to the mobile networks as part of this agreement.
Sajid Javid, the Culture Secretary and the person responsible for securing the deal, said: “Too many parts of the UK regularly suffer from poor mobile coverage leaving them unable to make calls or send texts. This legally binding agreement will give the UK the world-class mobile phone coverage it needs and deserves.”
All four networks agreed this was a great result for mobile phone users.
More on mobiles:
Giffgaff launches 4G SIM-only deals
Most Recent
Comments
-
I find it amazing that the best our government can do is get this commitment by 2017. What the government should have done is tell them that 4G is cancelled until the UK has blanket 3G coverage. It is ludicrous that I can travel the country on main roads/motorways or on the rail networks and for a lot of the time have no signal. AT ALL. But of course such a commitment would have huge implications to the bosses pockets, so will never happen cos we know who their friends are.
REPORT This comment has been reported. -
Having a system where we could connect to any provider would be an excellent system and it would save needing so many masts in one area whilst leaving out another area. Where I live we have O2 in the village but no 3G. The next village along has Three with 3G, then the nearest small town 6 miles away has O2 with 3G as well as a couple of other providers having a signal there. In the opposite direction the next village along has Orange with 3G (their mast used to reach our village before they upgraded it to 3G). Then further along you can get Vodafone. The nearest town in that direction is pretty mixed up, with mainly 3G coverage apart from O2, but there are serious black spots all over the town for all providers due to the hilly layout and big old buildings. Keep going another 7 miles to the next big town and there's no O2. So, in that situation, which network provider do I go for? No 3G at home at all so that rules out data, even though I have to pay for data no matter which package I choose. I used to be with Orange and a signal that came and went according to the weather until they upgraded to 3G and I could no longer receive any signal despite having 5 months of contract left to pay. Any mobile phone shop I go to in town claims that they cover my village with 3G. They've obviously not physically been here. I keep two mobile phones on different networks to cover as much area as possible but I shouldn't have to do this. More masts would help but I think the better plan would be to make the companies work out a way to share masts, just like banks share ATM machines. If banks can do it...
REPORT This comment has been reported. -
What you don't say is whether the percentages refer to population or area. The implication is the latter, but I suspect that it is of the former. Up here in the Highlands, but in several other areas of the UK, sparse population and roads winding through the glens have to be covered for the sake of tourists that flood the region during the summer. One engineer was called out to sort a local site that kept dropping calls. All the tests proved positive and long calls made from the site worked fine. Quite simply, as people drove through the area covered the signal came and went due to the mountainous terrain. How is this going to be helped by this new advance. It won't help at all.
REPORT This comment has been reported.
Do you want to comment on this article? You need to be signed in for this feature
23 December 2014