Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Leader of the House and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 2:37 pm on 20 June 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:37, 20 June 2018

There has been a range of meetings with them. I haven't actually met recently with the entire network, but we're in the process of arranging that, and there was a meeting in Llandrindod Wells yesterday. So, we are very much under way with that.

What we're trying to do, as I keep saying—we're out to consultation at the moment on the permitted development rights—what we're trying to do is hit the right level of masts and protection of our countryside. So, my colleague the Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for planning has a consultation out at the moment. And I will reiterate what I say all the time: this requires a concerted action from people to cover off things where there is market failure, particularly in rural areas. So, there isn't a particular problem in the conurbations or the heavily populated areas of Wales, because there are a lot of commercial customers. But we can't be expecting tourist destinations in mid Wales, for example, as I've said to you many times, to say, 'Come to my marvellous tourist establishment, but don't bother if you're not a customer of this one provider that provides a mobile service here.'

So, there's a very big conversation going on—it's not just the things that you just outlined, and I was perhaps being a little tetchy that day, as a result of some of the conversations. But it is about a balance between having a shared network, or roaming, or some agreement with them, to make sure that we have better mobile coverage—(a) in some places in Wales that have one provider, and (b) for everyone who wants to come and visit Wales and spend their tourist pounds in Wales to be able to use the provider of their choice, so either roaming, or to have a deal with the networks. So, I'm looking for compromise between permitted development rights, and the consultation, as I say, is out, and we'll be looking to see with interest what comes back from that, and compromise from the mobile phone operators, who have a duty to more than just their commercial need in terms of their customers.