241. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the number of mobile phone coverage blackspots identified in County Clare and to outline any plans to address them. [53844/26]

In the liberalised and competitive Irish mobile telecoms market, network coverage is the responsibility of network operators, who operate on a commercial basis, regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). These operators consistently prioritise improving their networks’ coverage. However, mobile service quality is not uniform in all areas as it must overcome varying challenges such as different geographical terrains, varying physical and natural obstructions as well as different user demands.

In 2023, ComReg completed a Multi-band Spectrum Award (MBSA2) to assign long term rights of use in four spectrum bands to enable operators to provide improved mobile services. The award of these MBSA2 licences represented a 46% increase in the harmonised spectrum assigned for the provision of wireless broadband services, including 4G and 5G, in Ireland and included significant coverage obligations for operators. Those licence obligations place a key focus on delivering improved coverage to population centres, rather than solely focusing on geographical coverage.

The MBSA2 licences includes legal commitments from the operators to provide, by 2030: a 3 Mbit/s service to 99% of the population and 92% of the geographic area of Ireland; a 30 Mbit/s service to 95% of the population, 90% of motorways, and 80% of primary roads; and a 30 Mbit/s service to 345 specific locations, consisting of 40 business and technology parks, 65 hospitals, 24 higher education campuses, 14 air and seaports, 160 train and bus stations, and 42 top visitor attraction information points.

For example, in Clare, those specific locations include Ennis Hospital, Ennis and Sixmilebridge train stations, Shannon airport, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience, Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and Clonroad More bus station, Ennis.

To meet those obligations, mobile networks operators continue to add new capacity to their networks using both their newly acquired radio spectrum and by upgrading the radio technologies on their networks.

ComReg confirms that call blocks, call drops, and network availability, on mobile networks, remain stable even with increasing traffic volumes. A call block is a call made to a number, but the call fails and does not connect; a call drop is an unexpected disconnection of an established phone call. ComReg is satisfied that mobile network operators are meeting their licence requirements over the whole network. ComReg will conduct an assessment of operators’ compliance with their 3-year obligations under the MBSA2 licence this year.

ComReg also updates its online national outdoor mobile coverage map at coveragemap.comreg.ie. This helps customers select the best service for them. Where customers experience poor coverage, they should contact the customer care team of their mobile phone operator to make a complaint. The complaint can then be escalated to ComReg if not resolved to the consumer's satisfaction within 10 days.

Finally, my Department’s Digital Connectivity Strategy published in 2022 sets ambitious targets for fixed and mobile connectivity and this strategy is currently being updated.