My Lords, I am slightly surprised that I am on my feet already. I thank noble Lords for their contributions. I will try to ask their specific questions before coming on to the point in the amendment to the Motion.
The noble Lord, Lord Foster, made a general point about “regret” being the correct word in these circumstances. Of course it is obvious that “roam like at home” in the EU 27, which has been with us for 18 months, is a good thing for consumers, and I think that many of us who have been abroad in the EU 27 or possibly even the EEA countries have benefited from that. In fact, we have had that not just in the last 18 months; wholesale charges have been capped to some extent for nearly 10 years. Therefore, I agree that there are detriments. However, it is true that consumers are used to dealing with the absence of “roam like at home” in every other country in the world, and there are now many ways by which one can alleviate that, such as the increased use of wi-fi and apps that allow you to communicate over the internet—and of course the ultimate sanction is to switch roaming off. However, I accept that it is a useful thing.
The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, in speaking to his amendment to the Motion went a bit wide of the issue, as is his wont, but it was interesting nevertheless. He talked about roaming in the UK, which is a domestic issue, not the question of roaming when abroad. It is true that in previous debates—I remember debates with both noble Lords on the subject of domestic roaming—we have said that we were not in favour of it because it prevented investment and stopped competition, and it is true that in most countries roaming at home is not an accepted practice. However, we want to have high-quality mobile connectivity where people live,
work and travel in this country, we have committed to extending geographic mobile coverage to 95% of the UK by 2022, and we are looking at ways to achieve that target.
Particularly in rural areas, it is possible to allow customers to be switched on to a network service if their provider has none. I can confirm to the noble Lord that the new statement of strategic priorities for Ofcom, which is our suggestions for what it should consider, has recommended that it further examine the costs and benefits of domestic roaming and to retain the option of requiring operators to introduce rural roaming.
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The noble Lord also mentioned that the mobile signal in the UK is patchy and bad and asked what we are doing about it. Obviously, we want to extend mobile coverage and make it better, regardless of operators’ international roaming plans. Ofcom has a forthcoming 700 megahertz and 3.6 to 3.8 gigahertz spectrum auction. Those airwaves provide mobile signal and data and include coverage obligations that will further improve coverage in rural areas across the UK. As I said, the SSP for Ofcom asks it to explore not just UK roaming but other options to improve mobile coverage and the choice of operators, so it is on the agenda.
As for Northern Ireland and inadvertent roaming, this issue of course applies in other areas within the EU with third countries on the border, such as Switzerland. We understand that it is of special relevance to Northern Ireland, notwithstanding the noble Lord’s experience in the middle of Scotland. We are requiring operators to take reasonable steps when a phone is used in the border region of Northern Ireland and may pick up a mobile signal from another network. That means, for example, providing special tariffs which might allow them to use Irish mobile operators. We expect them to communicate alternatives, such as smartphone apps, and provide information to their customers.
We do not anticipate inadvertent roaming to be a problem in the event of EU exit, because we do not foresee that UK operators will charge those domestic customers who inadvertently roam in Ireland. In our discussion with operators, they made it clear that there are no current plans to do so. We do not expect that situation to change.
The noble Lord, Lord Foster, talked about the impact assessment and the cost on business. The reason that the impact assessment has not laid out a cost to business is that it highlighted the difference between this SI and doing nothing. We have not assessed the impact of removing the requirement for guaranteed surcharge-free roaming. That is because that impact would not be a result of the statutory instrument. The proof of the pudding is that the big four operators have no plans to implement roaming charges, even if the SI is passed and comes into force.