Boris Johnson will today vow that a future Conservative Government would make poor mobile phone signals a “thing of the past” by fast-tracking a £1 billion investment to eradicate not-spots in rural areas.
The Prime Minister, on a campaign visit to south-west England, will set out plans for a “Shared Rural Network,” that would involve the erection of new masts and existing infrastructure shared between the four mobile phone providers; 02, Three, Vodafone and EE.
This, he explained, would ensure 4G service, for all customers, regardless of their provider, across almost all of the UK, “virtually eradicating the not-spots,” which exist in some rural areas where “no service” plagues mobile phones.
“Mobile phones are revolutionising our day-to-day lives and are crucial for businesses as they compete and grow. We are determined to make sure that no part of the country is left behind when it comes to mobile connections,” declared Mr Johnson.
“If a Conservative majority Government is elected, in our first 100 days we will fast-track agreements for mast-sharing between networks alongside new investment in mobile infrastructure to tackle rural not-spots by 2025 and make a poor mobile signal is a thing of the past.”
He added: “These plans underline the choice at this election: vote for the Conservatives on December 12, so we can get Brexit done, focus on our schools and hospitals, and deliver better mobile and digital coverage to rural areas; or, vote Jeremy Corbyn for more Brexit delay and the chaos of two more referendums preventing progress on anything else.”
The plan to tackle poor mobile phone coverage was originally announced at the Conservative Party conference in October.
Earlier this year, consumer watchdog Which? found only three constituencies in the whole of Scotland had complete 4G coverage from all four mobile operators.
The proposed investment would mean 4G coverage in rural Scotland should more than double from 41 per cent to 85 per cent.
Currently, only two-thirds of the UK landmass has geographic coverage for customers of all four network operators. This, the Tories are promising, would rise to 95 per cent or more under their plan.
Tory HQ said the agreement between providers would be the first of its kind in the world and would mean consumers would be able to connect to 4G coverage, wherever they lived, travelled or worked regardless of their network provider.
This transformative fund would see additional coverage to 280,000 homes and businesses and 16,000 kilometres of roads. It would, the Conservatives insisted, significantly improve life for the 9.3m people living in the countryside.
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The phone company operators would pay up to £530 million to get rid of partial not-spots; a Conservative majority government would add a further £500m to build new infrastructure in rural areas that were not commercially viable, providing “near-universal coverage”.
A future Tory Government would also upgrade the emergency service network in the countryside to open it up for consumers with no loss of capacity for the emergency services.
The Conservatives said the mobile phone coverage pledge built on a raft of commitments by the UK Government to ensure rural areas were not left behind, including £5bn to accelerate the rollout of the highest-speed internet across the country; “eradicating the digital divide, boosting regional economic growth and improving productivity”.
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