AQW 20486/22-27 Written question to the Minister for the Economy
To ask the Minister for the Economy how his Department is working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to improve mobile phone signal across Northern Ireland.
Asked by John Blair MLA on 14 January 2025
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 14 January 2025
- Answer due by
- 29 January 2025
- Answered
- 21 January 20257 days after tabling
- Department
- Department for the Economy
- Priority question
- No
Answer
Telecommunications policy is a reserved matter, since February 2023 the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) have held the policy responsibility on improvements to mobile connectivity. The Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport previously held this remit.
DfE officials maintain regular contact with DSIT on all telecommunications matters ensuring that all local issues are given appropriate consideration for any policy decisions taken regarding the improvement of mobile connectivity here.
My officials and DSIT officials also jointly participate in several initiatives which will help improve mobile connectivity here. For example, to help address the wider challenges faced by the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) regarding telecommunications infrastructure rollout, my officials led on the development of the cross sectorial Mobile Action Plan for Northern Ireland (MAP NI) and established the Barrier Busting Taskforce, which is the delivery vehicle for the recommendations made by the MAP NI. More details about MAP NI can be found at economy-ni.gov.uk.
My officials also contributed towards the Shared Rural Network (SRN) project which was developed by the MNOs and Building Digital UK (BDUK), an executive agency of DSIT. SRN aimed to deliver 95% 4G coverage and enable rural businesses and communities to thrive.
Although responsibility for delivery of SRN falls to the MNOs and BDUK, many local stakeholders sat on the NI SRN working group to make representations and provide a local perspective, which helped achieve local connectivity targets on schedule.
Progress of SRN is measured by Ofcom, who recently announced that the SRN programme has significantly reduced the scale of partial not spots and consequently increased the areas where all MNOs provide coverage. More details about the SRN programme can be found at srn.org.uk.