AQW 44230/11-15

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 26/03/2015
Answered On Date: 09/04/2015
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for her assessment of the level of 4G availability; and what her Department is doing to encourage faster roll out to customers outside Belfast.

Answer:

My Department does not gather information on mobile coverage. Such data is collected by the telecommunications regulator, Ofcom and is published on an annual basis in its Infrastructure Reports. The latest report, published in December 2014, indicates that, at June 2014, outdoor 4G coverage in Northern Ireland stood at 79% of premises and 41% geographically from at least one operator. This was the highest coverage of any UK nation.

My Department maintains regular contact with the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and takes every opportunity to press for faster roll-out of services. However, the telecommunications market is fully privatised and independently regulated, with investment decisions taken on the basis of commercial return and it is not therefore within DETI’s gift to compel a provider to invest in particular infrastructure, technologies or to deploy services. In recent years the MNOs have invested significantly to improve their 2G and 3G networks and commence the roll-out 4G services and this is having a positive impact.

To address areas where the market is not currently investing, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is implementing the Mobile Infrastructure project. This is focused on 2G technology but, it is understood that operators will future proof the infrastructure being deployed, to further support 3G, 4G and beyond, where possible. Northern Ireland is now in line for the deployment of 70 nominal, new mast sites under this project.

Furthermore, in December 2014, the UK Government announced that it had reached an agreement with the MNOs which will see the mobile industry investing £5 billion in UK infrastructure and increasing coverage by 2017 with a view to addressing the issue of partial not-spots i.e. those areas where coverage is provided by just one or two of the four MNOs.

All of these initiatives should help to further improve mobile services across Northern Ireland. However, my Department is keeping a watching brief and will assess the need for further Government intervention once they have completed.