UK’s Culture, Media and Sport secretary Sajid Javid, Thursday announced a landmark deal with the four mobile network operators in the UK - EE, O2, Three and Vodafone to tackle poor signal issues in the so-called ‘partial not-spots’. All four mobile operators have agreed to invest £5bn and guarantee coverage across 90% of the UK by 2017 with OFCOM being the body to enforce the deal. The deal will also see full coverage from all four mobile operators increasing from 69 percent to 85 percent while partial not-spots will be cut in half. At the same time, total 'not-spots' will be reduced by two-thirds.
According to a statement by the UK Government, no cash payments will be made pursuant to this agreement. This will support the UK Government’s existing £150m programme that aims to bring mobile coverage to areas within the UK which are currently without any mobile coverage.
Culture Secretary Sajid Javid
I am pleased to have secured a legally binding deal with the four mobile networks. Too many parts of the UK regularly suffer from poor mobile coverage leaving them unable to make calls or send texts. Government and businesses have been clear about the importance of mobile connectivity, and improved coverage, so this legally binding agreement will give the UK the world-class mobile phone coverage it needs and deserves. The £5bn investment from the mobile networks in the UK’s infrastructure will help drive this Government’s long-term economic plan.
EE CEO Olaf Swantee
EE is focused on bringing the best voice and data service to its customers across the UK, and only last week announced 1,500 unconnected villages will soon benefit from EE coverage. This agreement ensures that our customers are able to stay connected in even more places up and down the country.
