The long parliamentary campaign to bring mobile coverage to rural areas has ended in victory this month, as OFCOM finally announced proposals to increase broadband coverage to an estimated 98% of the UK population.
Traditionally, up to 6 million people in Britain have been excluded from good mobile coverage, particularly in rural areas. Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP David Mundell was one of the leaders of the campaign, signing a back-bench business committee debate motion urging OFCOM to increase the coverage to at least 98% of the population. The motion was carried unanimously at the end of a 3 hour debate in the House of Commons on 19 May 2011.
In October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer responded to the debate by committing an extra £150 million to build thousands of new mobile phone masts to cover rural areas. In November, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport select committee slammed OFCOM's coverage target of 95% as 'unambitious' and backed Mr Mundell's call for a 98% coverage obligation. OFCOM has since proposed options which should ensure that 98% or more of the population will receive 4G mobile broadband coverage. This means that millions of people who do not have a mobile signal will now receive one, and that millions more will have their signal upgraded from a 2G 'voice' signal to a 4G signal, capable of carrying broadband data.
Commenting on the triumph, Mr Mundell said: "This investment will transform the fortunes of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses who are currently hindered by inadequate mobile phone and internet coverage. Hundreds of thousands of homes, schools, farms and businesses will finally get access to decent mobile and internet coverage, some for the first time. It will make an incredible difference to our national infrastructure and hopefully to all our local businesses and services."