‘Use phone fines to improve rural signal’

♦ Fines levied on mobile phone and broadband operators for poor customer service should go into a fund to help eradicate “not spots” in rural areas, councils have suggested.

The proposal, put forward by the Local Government Association, could provide a multi-million-pound boost to local councils whose residents are suffering as a result of poor mobile and broadband connectivity.

At present, money collected in penalties by regulator Ofcom for incorrectly billing customers and the poor handling of complaints goes straight to the Treasury.