Cumbrian MPs demand action from phone companies to improve connectivity

Cumbria’s four Labour MPs called electricity, telecoms and mobile network providers into Parliament to demand further action from them to improve the resilience of the network following weaknesses exposed during recent storms.

The meeting, convened by Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister, was led by MPs Julie Minns, Markus Campbell-Savours and Michelle Scrogham and Cumberland councillor Gillian Troughton. Electricity North West, Ofgem, BT / EE, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone and Three were all in attendance.

Storm Eowyn saw thousands of homes across Cumbria without power. Mobile phone masts were also affected as many do not have back up power. In areas where home phones have been switched to digital, customers had no access to mobile or landline communications, leaving them unable to get updates or seek help.

MPs asked telecoms providers to do more to support vulnerable customers who have had their landlines switched over to digital and called on mobile network operators to put battery back up units on more of their masts across Cumbria. MPs also asked operators to set aside generators for masts during power cuts. Concerns were raised about the lack of data sharing so that vulnerable customers can be identified by providers and network operators. Electricity North West also raised issues about not having data on mast locations for their network restoration planning during power cuts.

Speaking after the meeting, Josh said:

“MPs called this meeting because we don’t think enough is being done to improve connectivity in rural areas of Cumbria or to respond quickly when issues occur, such as power cuts.

“We were clear that we want telecoms providers and mobile network operators to step up and invest in improving the resilience of the network, with things like battery back up at masts and more effort to identify and support vulnerable customers. We also want to see more data sharing across the system. This should be happening already.”

MPs will convene a further meeting in three months to check on progress.