Lack of a caller's network coverage may not bar 999 calls in future

Walkers and mountaineers should be able to call for help more easily after the UK’s mobile phone operators agreed to share their networks for 999 calls.

Emergency ‘roaming’ – using other companies’ networks for calls to police and other services – is common in continental Europe but not used in Britain. Now, following a Welsh initiative, the five major mobile phone operators have agreed to a trial of the system.

If successful, roaming will be extended to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is hoped to have the system running by the end of this year.

The networks, O2, Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile and 3, agreed to trial the scheme after pressure from Ofcom, the regulatory body.  Rhodri Williams, Ofcom’s director for Wales, pointed out that many areas of the nation have poor mobile signal coverage, which could be vital when summoning help in remote areas.

A spokesperson for Ofcom Wales told grough: “We are looking at introducing roaming for emergencies throughout the UK, with the five major operators.

“This happens in other parts of Europe. We are hoping to have this in place by 2010.”

While the use of mobile phones has been a boon for mountain rescue teams, it has been a double-edge sword, with an overreliance on calling help by phone at the first sign of difficulty among some hillwalkers, rather than the traditional ethos of getting oneself out of trouble and only calling for rescue when absolutely necessary.

However, there have been occasions when rescue teams have been able to talk lost walkers off the mountains without having to put their members out on to the fells. Equally, help can be summoned much more quickly than before the availability of mobile phones, when the only way to get help was by reaching a landline in the valley.

Ofcom is expected to announce the move formally later this week.