Government needs to get to grips with poor mobile phone coverage – Troy

Fianna Fáil TD for Longford Westmeath Robert Troy has criticised the government for its failure to take action on addressing poor mobile phone coverage.

The Minister for Communications Denis Naughten established the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce following a commitment made in the Programme for government to address the issue of poor connectivity.

It published recommendations last December, but progress has stalled since, Deputy Troy said: “Mobile phone operators claim that 90% of the country is covered by their networks, but the reality on the ground is that many communities in Longford and Westmeath have patchy coverage and in some cases no coverage at all.

“This problem used to be confined to rural areas, but I am being contacted by an increasing number of people in towns and villages reporting the same problem.

“Anyone who works on the go will realise that poor mobile phone coverage affects large parts of the country. The mobile operators consistently point out the work they are doing in large urban areas, such as Dublin, to upgrade the network to 4G capabilities – however the rest of the country isn’t getting a look in. Many parts of Longford and Westmeath have no mobile coverage at all, let alone 3G or 4G services.

“The government seriously needs to get its act together on this issue. It’s no use establishing a taskforce just to keep the Independent Alliance on board without actually following through with action to address the issue.

“We need to see serious investment in the mobile phone network to make it fit for purpose,” concluded Deputy Troy.