Vodaphone 4G now live in Shrewsbury
One of the largest mobile phone operators has taken a step forward in plans to get Shropshire connected by bringing 4G to the county town.
Vodafone today announced 4G is now live in Shrewsbury as part of its roll-out to more than 800 cities, towns and regions in the country.
The news comes weeks after Shropshire MPs, councillors, and senior officers at Shropshire Council met mobile network operators to hear how plans are progressing to improve mobile phone signal coverage.
The meeting, held in April, was the latest in a series where mobile network operators were challenged to meet the Government's coverage obligation that requires them to provide 90 per cent of the UK with access to a voice and data service by the end of December 2017.
In a statement, Vodafone said: "Vodafone 4G is now live in Shrewsbury. Vodafone has now expanded its 4G coverage to 848 larger cities, towns and districts as well as thousands of smaller communities across the UK.
"The arrival of Vodafone 4G means customers with compatible devices and bundles will be able to connect to the internet more quickly, more reliably and in more places than ever before."
Councillor Ioan Jones, mayor of Shrewsbury, said it was very frustrating to see there were still mobile phone coverage problems in the town, but welcomed any progress.
He said: "I do hear a lot of people complaining, so anything that will improve reception for people is good.
"We need much better coverage in the county, as well as 3G and 4G, as it can be very poor in places.
"I spoke to someone from a mobile operator and they actually said sometimes the buildings can be the obstruction.
"Sometimes you can signal outside and then as soon as you go in a building you can't get anything.
"It needs to be much better.
"Anything that is going to improve it is definitely positive."
Earlier this month, MP Owen Paterson said the Government was actively taking steps to improve the situation.
The North Shropshire MP Vodap[hone 4G said Culture Secretary John Whittingdale had outlined the Government's plan of action after he raised the lack of available broadband and the "appalling, deteriorating" mobile phone coverage.
