“It is welcome news that the UK Conservative Government is investing £150 million to help provide greater mobile network coverage across rural Scotland. It is believed that this latest investment will increase the percentage of users receiving adequate coverage and assist the 5-10% of people who live in an area with poor or non-existent reception.
“I very much welcome the fact that the UK Conservative Government has committed resources to improve the coverage and quality of mobile network services for the five to ten per cent of consumers and businesses that live and work in areas of the UK where existing mobile network coverage is poor or non-existent. With more people relying on mobiles, the standard of reception is a vital issue and could be lifesaving in emergency situations and along major transport corridors.
“Some areas of Aberdeenshire are not provided with any mobile coverage by mobile network operators and other areas receive low quality coverage which results in a poor level of customer experience.
“In rural areas, there is a limited commercial case for market-driven private investment to achieve an enhancement to coverage and quality of service.
“Increasing the coverage and quality of mobile connectivity is needed to support business growth, extend access to key public services which are delivered online, and to bring an improvement in the mobile customer experience more widely across many parts of rural Scotland.
“Scottish Conservatives are determined to make sure that rural Scotland is not left behind and that we see real investment in rural Scotland’s telecommunications technology improvements.
“I have today written to Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative to ask for a timetable for when Aberdeenshire is likely to see investment in our mobile signal network.”