Parliamentary Candidate Meets Minister To Raise Mobile Signal Concerns

Issues with local mobile phone connectivity have been raised with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport last night in Wrexham.

Wrexham.com and other media were invited to the meeting at the Lemon Tree, arranged prior to Mr Javid’s appearance on last night’s Question Time TV show which was being filmed up the road at Glyndwr University.

The ongoing problems that are affecting different networks around town, but predominately with the network EE, have been raised time and time again on twitter, Facebook and our forums – a 240+ post thread is here.

At yesterday’s meeting the ongoing mobile / 3G coverage issues in Wrexham were the subject of choice, with Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Andrew Atkinson querying what could be done to try and tackle the issue.

Wrexham’s issues with mobile coverage have been well documented over the past few months, with issues initially being reported in April / May 2014. Since then we have written a number of reports documenting the issue, with various attempts to get it solved once and for all.

During the meeting Wrexham.com fed back some of the comments we had received from readers, noting that signal issues are particularly bad around the town centre and have resulted in people opting to do their work outside of the town centre due to the lack of coverage. It was also noted that working signal and mobile phones are a ‘basic need’ for many in 2015, however there seems to be a lack of progress and little ownership over the faults. Further, the issue of people being locked into expensive contracts without the service they are paying for being provided was also raised.

Mr Atkinson said: “There is mainly problems with EE in Wrexham, however all networks seem to have their own problems. Signal across the town can be atrocious and the reply we seem to get is that ‘the issue is being looked into’, however nothing changes.

“Which network do you jump to next, there are issues with them all; this is a multi-network problem. Taking it forward, it doesn’t feel like an awful lot of notice has been taken by the networks.”

Mr Javid said: “I recognise there are parts of the UK with lousy coverage, there are some with patchy coverage and others which have no coverage. This is more of an issue today, as in the past mobile phones were seen as a luxury, today they are a necessity. There is an expectation to get a signal.”

Mr Javid outlined a deal struck in December with the four major mobile providers (EE, O2, Three and Vodafone) to achieve 90% geographical cover by 2017, rather than population based targets. The deal aims to fill the gaps in mobile phone coverage and provide more reliable signal strength. The new legislation will eventually be enforced by Ofcom to ensure that the conditions are met, with it being a ‘criminal offence’ to not meet said targets.

Mr Javid added: “Ofcom will monitor the progress and milestones, making sure they are being met. The other 10% must be covered by a mobile infrastructure project. The Government have a third part contractor putting masts in areas identified with no signal.

Mr Javid outlined possible issues with local planning regulations and objections to the siting of mobile towers, with examples cited nationally where people complained about reception yet did not want a tower built.

Concerns regarding a lack of clarity over the problems were also addressed, with local business owner, Alex Jones noting: “If you phone up a company to tell them about the issue, the answer is ‘we know’. They will give you the code, fix the problem and three days later the mast is back down again. There is no technical explanation.

“If you go 10 miles up the road in Chester you get 4G. North Wales are being kept in the dark ages compared to the south.”

Pressed for specifics on what can be done for Wrexham the answer appears to be ‘consumer pressure’ via the regulator, Ofcom.

Mr Javid said: “Ultimately your deal is with a private company, consumer pressure can be strong, write to the regulator. The other thing is don’t give the company your business when your contract runs out.”

Local businessman Rob Golam explained his issues with basic mobile reception in the area, let alone data connections, explaining he has to set a redirect for business calls when not at work.

Local MP Ian Lucas weighed in on Twitter later in the evening, tweeting the below. Mr Lucas has already met with EE directly back in July however it seems promises given to him then have not been kept, or have reoccurred.

For information: Mobile Phone Coverage is a UK Govt responsibility and @wrexham has been badly let down on it by the Tories

— Ian Lucas (@IanCLucas) January 29, 2015

Mr Atkinson said after the meeting he will be ‘assembling a combined approach to regulator’, and we will keep readers informed of any developments.

(Interestingly with the General Election looming visits of Ministers to various constituencies are being examined, with this BBC article enquiring on the link between official business and target seats. Hopefully we will see lots more national politicians of all parties taking an interest in the issues affecting Wrexham, and ideally not just when there is an election or TV show nearby.)