Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 6
Thirty-Fifth Report - Supporting mobile connectivity
Published 28 May 2024
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Supporting mobile connectivity All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Progress in improving connectivity on UK railways has been hampered by a lack of up-to-date coverage data. Mobile connectivity along major rail routes remains poor and passengers can often struggle to make calls, stream videos or work online. Improving rail connectivity is very challenging, with tunnels, cuttings and safety glass on modern trains making reception difficult. It is also, according to the Department, expensive because it requires installation of infrastructure alongside the railway track. Improving connectivity on railways is the responsibility of the Department for Transport and proposals to improve mobile connectivity need to be judged alongside other priorities for investment on the railways. However, the data on rail mobile coverage that is available to inform these investment decisions is not fit for purpose. There is a lack of granular data showing, for example, mobile coverage for each metre of rail. The data is also out of date, with Ofcom publishing its last study on rail mobile coverage in 2019. Recommendation 6: Working with Ofcom and the Department for Transport, the Department should make a plan for more frequent collection of coverage data on the UK rail network to help it prioritise the rail lines where improvements in coverage is most needed. This information should be published on a regular basis so that rail travellers have clearer information on the coverage they will experience.
From: Public Accounts Committee, Thirty-Fifth Report - Supporting mobile connectivity (HC 650), 28 May 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 11 July 2025 (deadline 28 July 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the seven recommendations in the report, giving target implementation dates between December 2024 and January 2027.
- On cost certainty, the government says the grant structure "moves the majority of the financial risk for delivery outside government" and that a capped fund for the Total Not Spot element means its contribution "cannot exceed £300.7 million".
- On areas left without 4G, the government says it "is not possible to predict with a high degree of certainty" which areas these will be at this stage; identification will be undertaken "upon completion of the site acquisition phase". Target date: January 2027.
- On coverage data, the department "will ask that Ofcom examines any cases where areas have lost all mobile connectivity following 3G switch off" and will work with Ofcom to "consider other ways that consumers can report gaps in coverage". Target date: January 2025.
- On 5G, the government says standalone 5G is commercially funded "with no government subsidy", and that it will provide an evaluation of the Open Networks Programme and 5G Innovation Regions "following their conclusion in 2025".