Harriett Baldwin has welcomed Government plans to make the phone companies collaborate to improve mobile phone coverage in rural areas. Large areas of Harriett’s rural constituency suffer from poor coverage – especially in the south of the county and the Teme Valley and she has consistently raised the issue with both the relevant mobile phone operators, Ofcom and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport The major mobile phone operators have now reached an agreement with the Government to invest over £1 billion developing a coverage plan which will allow them to share the network infrastructure – helping more people to have better coverage including 4G and 5G when it is introduced across the UK. The announcement follows a commitment made by the companies in 2016 to invest £5 billion in the national mast network to raise the level of coverage to 85 per cent of the country by the end of 2017. This new deal will see coverage lifted to 95 per cent by 2025. Harriett met with the four companies three years ago to urge them to work together to find better solutions for coverage across the county. Harriett commented: “Good mobile phone coverage is an essential requirement and I find it frustrating that the mobile phone operators have taken so long to agree to work together on this issue. “People living in rural areas should not be penalised for their choice and I welcome this serious investment in a plan to fix the problem. “As someone who regularly drives through very rural parts of the county, I know how difficult it can be to get a usable signal and I know local people will join me in urging the companies to get on with it.”