'National roaming' law: Stubborn UK operators to be forced to share

Mobile operators in the UK could be forced to accept network-switching arrangements with their rivals, if legislation – reportedly expected to be unveiled this week – is pushed through Parliament.

According to a number of reports in the Sunday newspapers this morning, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport wants to introduce a "national roaming" plan.

Under the apparent proposal, mobile customers would be able to easily hop on to other networks when the signal from their carrier is poor or non-existent in partial notspot areas.

The Sunday Times (£) reported that the planned regulation was being floated, after the country's biggest mobile operators, including O2, Vodafone and EE, declined to agree to the proposed network-sharing idea.

The newspaper quoted a senior Whitehall official, who said that the proposed law would be published as part of a public consultation document expected to land this week.

"We're keen on a national roaming plan," the government insider said. "We've talked to the mobile phone networks and told them to come up with a plan. The Secretary of State [Sajid Javid] is pretty frustrated that they have failed to do so."

The source added that operators have been given "numerous opportunities" to come up with a suitable business proposal that would benefit their UK subscribers.

Legislation is necessary, it was claimed, "to deal with the issue of partial notspots."

In July, Javid told MPs that he was disappointed with the mobile service offered to Brits on the move. At the time, he noted that French nationals who visited the UK got better network coverage than British residents because of international roaming. ®