Written question asked by Andrew George (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 17 September 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 November 2004. It was answered by Alun Michael (Labour) on Thursday, 18 November 2004 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of coverage of public telephone kiosks in rural areas; and what discussions she has had with British Telecommunications and other telephone suppliers on this matter.

Answer: Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of coverage of public telephone kiosks in rural areas; and what discussions she has had with British Telecommunications and other telephone suppliers on this matter. [190063] Alun Michael: I have not made an assessment or had discussions with telephone suppliers. The Government takes access to all public services in rural areas seriously and all telephone providers are subject to the universal service obligation. Universal service is a concept fundamental to the regulation of telecommunications in the UK. It means that basic telephone services should be available to everybody upon reasonable request and at an affordable price. This includes the provision of public call boxes and call box services in the UK. This is a matter for the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which took over responsibility for telecommunications regulation in December 2003. The universal service conditions and directions applying to public call boxes can be found on Ofcom's website. Ofcom is currently reviewing the universal service obligation and intends to publish a document for consultation later this year.

Secondary information