MOBILE TELEPHONE COVERAGE

That this House believes that during times of economic difficulty, mobile telephone companies should be encouraged to share masts to improve coverage and to reduce the number of times people are cut off during calls; calls for operators with a significant asset base of coverage area to begin either through voluntary agreements or force of legislation to allow roaming between their networks until such time as they significantly improve coverage; notes that at the moment the best networks cover about two thirds of the population but that roaming or shared mast use could increase this to over nine-tenths of the population; and further notes the economic and safety benefits of such steps particularly in rural and island areas.