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<p>The Government announced in-principle support in October 2019 for the mobile network
operators’ (MNOs) Shared Rural Network (SRN) proposal. The proposal would share investment
costs between the MNOs and government and increase 4G mobile coverage throughout the
United Kingdom to 95% by 2025. It will be underpinned by a legally binding coverage
commitment from each operator.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Government's in-principle
support is subject to detailed negotiations. While this is not yet a done deal, the
Prime Minister has made improvements to rural mobile coverage part of his first 100
days pledge. I will continue to work with the sector to make that happen, but I will
also explore all possible options to meet our mobile coverage ambitions, including
rural roaming.</p><p>The exact site deployment plans and timescales will be managed
by the MNOs themselves in order for them to best deliver the agreed coverage outcomes.
So until the operators’ final radio planning exercise is complete, neither the Government
nor the operators will know the precise location or number of new or upgraded masts.
However, the operators will be consulting with local communities as their roll out
plans become clearer.</p><p> </p>
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