Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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792. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he or his Department have had any recent communications with the communications regulator or the mobile telephone companies in relation to the widespread concern regarding poor mobile telephony coverage, particularly in counties Cavan and Monaghan, as discussed previously through parliamentary questions; if the telephone companies have provided commitments to upgrade their infrastructure and to meet modern demands; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29623/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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Conditions regarding levels of mobile telephony coverage to be delivered by Mobile Network Operators are attached to licences issued by ComReg. Operators tend to exceed these coverage requirements for commercial reasons. However, as mobile services are a radio based technology, services can be affected by topography, quality of handsets, the capacity of the network and proximity to mobile telephone antennas.

Any customer, including those in Cavan and Monaghan, who experiences service difficulties should raise the matter with the service provider, in the first instance. If this fails to resolve matters, customers can refer a complaint to ComReg, who will investigate the service provider’s compliance with its contractual obligations.

My Department has contacted ComReg to seek an update in relation to complaints about coverage in counties Cavan and Monaghan. Our understanding is that the amount of complaints regarding coverage in these areas is nominal since April last, with the number of contacts that ComReg has received from these counties being a small percentage of overall contacts received in relation to network coverage.

My Department has been advised by one mobile operator that disruptions to service may have been experienced due to work being carried out to upgrade their networks in Monaghan and Cavan. The positive outcome of such disruption is, however, a deployment of an improved service. Its network upgrade is more or less complete in Monaghan, with Cavan currently on track for completion in the autumn timeframe.

Another operator has confirmed to the Department that it has deployed two 3G and two 4G deployments in Cavan and Monaghan since May, which would recently have improved coverage. It has also indicated that it has not received complaints regarding coverage in these counties.

It is hoped that coverage issues will diminish through a combination of commercial operators continuing to invest in upgraded infrastructure and services, and local authorities and Government Departments working together to address barriers to the deployment of telecoms infrastructure and services which currently exist.