My Lords, I have just been informed by my noble and learned friend that all amendments lead to Rome. We accept that a genuine mistake was made in tabling the original amendment. Therefore, we will accept this amendment today. However, the Government have set out the arguments against requiring network operators to offer domestic roaming before, and I will try to be clearer this time as we did not have the opportunity to address those on Report. I will try to be brief.
First, domestic roaming is not mandated but it is not prohibited. Mobile networks could voluntarily enter into agreements with each other but they do not because it is costly and prevents them differentiating from competitors on the basis of coverage. As the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, reminded us, the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, told us on Report about the benefits he receives from his chosen provider, which permits roaming. This is, of course, a provider based outside the UK and the EU. However, he did not highlight the cost of that. The advertised price is £100 for one gigabyte of data and voice calls are £100 for 1,000 minutes, which is 10 times more expensive than the going rate for a standard domestic contract. That premium arises because operators have to pay other operators network access charges. Networks should be entitled to recover the cost of their investment. If one relies on another to provide coverage, it is only reasonable that fees should be paid, and those fees are of course passed on to the consumer.
Secondly, as the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, anticipated, there is the question of the impact on investment. Our strategy has been to grow investment in infrastructure, and that has worked. It has locked in £5 billion of investment since 2014. Some 89% of UK premises are now covered by all four operators, and that percentage is growing. More importantly, this investment is closing not-spots. Ofcom forecasts that by the end of this year the number of not-spots will have more than halved since 2014. Roaming might make it easier for some people where only a single operator exists, subject to cost, but it does not do anything for those in not-spots. Extending coverage remains our priority and that needs investment.
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Thirdly, if roaming were the silver bullet, why has it not been done in comparable markets? This approach has not been adopted elsewhere in Europe. The only exception is France, where there was an attempt to kick-start a new market entrant, but now, even there, the regulator is phasing out roaming. The few countries with domestic roaming—New Zealand, Canada and India, for example—have mobile markets and geographical challenges that do not make them comparable to the UK.
Fourthly, we agree that there is no need for every corner of the country to be covered by four masts. Sharing apparatus can be achieved without roaming. The new electronic communications code, in this Bill, is an enabler of more sharing, and noble Lords will have seen the support we have received from the wholesale infrastructure providers, which lead the way in this kind of sharing. However, other sharing is also being pursued, including the open access to Openreach’s ducts and poles, and Ofcom will soon be consulting on that.
Finally, the amendment is focused on allowing the opportunity to roam where services fall below standard. We are not clear what standards the amendment tries to refer to but consumers have other protections and remedies available to them: they may be subject to statutory cooling-off periods on new contracts; they may have other contractual rights; and, thanks to this Bill, they may be able to switch or to qualify for automatic compensation.
The Government will now consider further Clause 3, as amended by this amendment, when it returns to the other place. In the meantime, as I said, we accept Amendment 1 in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Stevenson and Lord Fox.