Mobile phone reception in Marlborough is worse than it is in far-off Afghanistan, according to Tory MP Claire Perry, who has announced her support for the government’s investment in super broadband in rural areas like Wiltshire.
“I had better reception in the middle of Kabul than I sometimes get on Marlborough High Street,” declares the Devizes MP, who visited British troops in Afghanistan last month.
“There are a complex series of problems to overcome, including possible planning issues around new mobile phone masts, but as consumers we can certainly do more to pressure the mobile phone network suppliers to lift their game.”
Mrs Perry has given her support to a petition protest about poor Vodaphone service in Marlborough, and adds: “I have written to the chief executive of the company to ask for his reaction to this great example of people power.”
One disgruntled Vodafone customer living just outside Marlborough commented: “We’re less than twenty miles from the World Headquarters of Vodafone and they can’t even provide a basic service, a sad comment on a supposed ‘World Class’ multinational”.
Four weeks to go until Wiltshire gets its new NHS commissioning regime
