County Tyrone: Rural phone signal issues impacting community

County Tyrone: Rural phone signal issues impacting community

In some rural areas of County Tyrone, ongoing mobile phone service problems have been a major topic of discussion for almost a month. Local representatives have noted that the Mid Ulster’s Torrent electoral district, including Coalisland and Clonoe, has been particularly affected. Residents have reported that areas with already poor signal reception have become complete blackspots with no signal whatsoever. The issues have been attributed to planned upgrade works on a service site shared by O2 and other mobile phone companies, aimed at providing faster and more reliable connectivity to customers.

The upgrade works in the area hit a snag due to unforeseen technical issues, causing delays in resolving the mobile phone service problems. While O2 has completed some improvement work in the area, there are still reports of network issues persisting, as noted by SDLP councillor Malachy Quinn. With many residents, especially those in rural and isolated areas, continuing to face poor or unreliable mobile signal, Quinn emphasized the importance of consistent access to calls and data in this day and age for everyone, regardless of their location.

At a Mid Ulster District Council meeting last month, independent councillor Dan Kerr raised concerns about the mobile phone service problems that arose at the end of May. Council chief executive, Adrian McCreesh, acknowledged the frustrations expressed by members about the companies’ behavior and the lack of connectivity options available to residents. McCreesh announced plans to arrange a meeting with mobile phone companies operating in the problematic areas of Mid Ulster to address the ongoing issues with signal reception.

Local businesses and residents, like barbershop owner Brian Kerr in Clonoe Village Business Park, have been significantly impacted by the phone signal problems. Kerr highlighted how the deteriorating signal quality has been a hot topic among customers and residents, affecting social interactions and business operations. Sinn Fein MLA Linda Dillon echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the equality issue of ensuring rural areas receive the same level of phone signal access as urban areas. With ongoing efforts to improve 4G in rural parts of Northern Ireland through initiatives like the Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme, the hope is that these connectivity challenges will be addressed effectively to benefit all residents

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