Kerry Blackspots

You’re gonna need more SIMs

Deputy Michael Cahill has been asking questions in the Dáil about Kerry mobile coverage; quite a few. Since May 2025 he has asked at least 30. As he’s often quite specific about the roads and areas so we’ve put them on a map.

The answers he gets are standard Departmental stuff; a disclaimer, a fragrant history of the last spectrum auction, and some helpful-unhelpful advice about escalation.

Occasionally it’s a little combative. Last year on the 25th of January the Department contradicted deputy Cahill’s account of poor coverage in Dromod because ComReg’s model said otherwise,

The mobile coverage within the townlands of Dromod and Ballintleave is classified as “good” and “very good” for 4G connectivity

The problem here is that ComReg’s disclaimer disowns any responsibility for the actual user experience, because apparently that is the responsibility of the user.

The results produced by the Coverage Map presented are for illustrative purposes only and the actual user experience may, depending upon the particular circumstances of the user, differ considerably from the results shown on the Coverage Map.

…and as for quality,

Please note that any thresholds contained in the coverage map do not correspond to precise quality of service definitions and it is not intended to imply thresholds correspond to precise quality of service definitions which you can or should rely.

A recent answer on 7th September stretched the Department’s optimism even further to suggest that Kerry users could avail of the combined coverage of all the networks.

Analysis of 4G and 5G outdoor mobile phone coverage indicates that 95% of the geographical area of Kerry has coverage of at least one mobile operator.

So we hope Michael Cahill persists. Perhaps some day the Department will stop the box-ticking, dissembling, word-play, cascading disclaimers, and dead-end advice.

In the meantime here’s some context.

1. ComReg and the Department agreed in 2019 to set low coverage targets in the MBSA2 licences, known as “precautionary” targets. The Department is ultimately responsible.
2. Increased spectrum allocated by ComReg – a regular chant of the Department – does not necessarily mean better coverage.
3. Of the twelve licence enhancement options considered by ComReg and the Department, only one has been enacted. It refers to coverage at transport and activty hubs, almost all of which are in urban areas. The results are still unpublished.
4. ComReg’s coverage maps depict modelled outdoor coverage supplied by the networks themselves.
5. Outdoor coverage is only tested empirically on Motorways and Primary Roads (a subset of National Roads), none of which are located on the Dingle, Iveragh or Beara peninsulas.
6. It is not possible to make or receive a call over another network (national roaming) except for emergency 999 or 112 calls. Therefore, to cite a figure for combined coverage across all networks (eg 95% as above) is misleading unless a user possesses SIM cards for all the networks.
7. Directing users to escalate coverage issues to ComReg is a dead-end. ComReg has no powers to direct operators to build or upgrade infrastructure to meet a coverage deficit on foot of a user complaint.