Simon Hart MP is encouraging rural villages in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire to sign up for a chance to get better mobile phone signal.
Mr Hart helped Pendine become one of only 12 communities in Britain to host a Rural Open Sure Signal (ROSS) pilot programme, which brought reliable 3G mobile phone coverage to the seaside village for the first time.
“The businesses and landlords in Pendine were brilliant at getting behind this project which helped improve the visitor experience greatly,” said Mr Hart.
“We all get so frustrated by poor mobile phone signal – my experience seems to be that it has only got worse over the years, so anything that can help make it reliable is to be welcomed.”
Mr Hart has now contacted local community councils to invite them to bid to become one of another 100 villages that will get the technology.
The ROSS units are about the size of a small carry on suitcase and use existing broadband services to deliver a 3G mobile signal. Villages wanting to make a bid need to appoint a “village champion” who can identify suitable buildings spread throughout the community in which to put the units.
*More information can be found at: www.vodafone.co.uk/rural.