Poor mobile signal on region’s roads

The report compiled by the RAC Foundation shows that drivers who break down on 1361 miles of Dumfries and Galloway’s roads will be unable to call for help, or will struggle to do so, because there is little or no mobile coverage.
It ranks sixth in the country for lack of 2G coverage, which is the minimum required to make a call, and falls just behind Highland, Powys, Argyll and Bute, Cumbria and Devon.
And South of Scotland MSP Aileen McLeod has condemned the large 2G ‘not-spot’ area, which equates to 46 per cent of Dumfries and Galloway’s roads network, and the fact there is not a single area of 4G coverage across the region.
She said: “The report is clear that on nearly half of Dumfries and Galloway’s roads you will either not be able to phone for help at all or hope that your network happens to have coverage, which will certainly not always be the case.
“There are not only safety but social and business issues affecting those areas where mobile operators have yet to have any incentive to cover.”
She added: “In a time when we rely on our phones to do so much, it is inexcusable that there are still hundreds of miles of Dumfries and Galloway’s roads where we cannot even make a basic call or send a text.
“Mobile phone companies should be held to a universal service obligation which will ensure that all parts of the nations of the UK have adequate mobile coverage.”