NORTH EAST RURAL AREAS WON'T MISS OUT ON NEW SATELLITE SERVICES DEAL

 MEP Fiona Hall has brokered a deal which ensures that rural and remote areas in the North East will not miss out on new mobile satellite services operating across Europe.

Today the European Parliament agreed rules for selecting operators of the new services, which are likely to include mobile broadband, mobile TV, voice and data services, as well as public services such as disaster relief. Operators of the mobile satellite services will be chosen according to how they score on different criteria.

Fiona was responsible for the negotiations with the European Commission and the Council. She insisted on adding a requirement for provision of services to rural and remote areas such as those in Upper Teesdale who have been faced with the added pressure of possible BT phone box closures in their areas.

Fiona, who is the Liberal Democrat Industry spokesperson in the European Parliament, said: "Mobile satellite companies tend to focus their activities on population centres so it was very important to insist on special weighting for rural areas.

"Rural and remote areas stand to get the most value out of mobile satellite services, which are likely to include satellite broadband services to areas currently suffering from poor quality or little choice of broadband .

"Satellite services can also work in remote and hilly areas where mobile phone coverage is absent. With the removal of BT phone boxes from some remote locations, there is now a real need for additional means of communications in such areas."