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Written question asked by Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 10 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 16 July 2026 (named day). It was answered by Kanishka Narayan (Labour) on Thursday, 16 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Mobile Broadband: Standards

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment has she made of the potential merits of introducing a legal definition of adequate mobile signal.

Answer

As part of the Government’s Mobile Market Review call for evidence, we asked how Government should think about, and define, ‘good’ mobile coverage in relation to quality of service provided to consumers, businesses and the public sector. We also asked what steps Government could take to ensure operators are able to provide this.

The call for evidence closed on 5 May; we are now reviewing responses and determining appropriate policy options with a view to setting out next steps later this year.

Whilst not a legal definition, Ofcom recently proposed a good performance standard for consumers for discussion in their ‘Connectivity you can count on’ discussion paper, published 3rd June 2026; this can be found at the following link


https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/coverage-and-speeds/mobile-connectivity-you-can-count-on

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
17892
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Standards Mobile broadband
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk