MPs Call for Gov to Focus on Rural 4G Expansion 

A parliamentary group is urging the government to prioritise expanding 4G coverage in rural areas, worried they’ll be left behind in the push for the fifth generation mobile network (5G).

The government has previously committed to attaining 95% geographic 4G coverage by 2022, a goal outlined in the Conservative Party manifesto in 2017, and wants to be a world leader in delivering 5G.

EE (BT) claim to have achieved 90% geographic coverage for their 4G network. They have also committed to delivering 95% coverage by 2020, by the terms of their £1.2 billion Emergency Services Network contract from the government, designed to give police forces, firefighters, and staff on ambulances access to reliable signal.

However, the geographic coverage of all four main mobile operators in the UK is just 64%—and rural areas are suffering the most from uneven coverage levels.

Ofcom has plans to enforce more comprehensive 4G expansion next year when it auctions off bands in the 700MHz spectrum, which will be used to deliver 5G and boost 4G coverage. It will reportedly demand better indoor coverage from providers and that two UK mobile networks achieve 92% geographic coverage.

However, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Rural Business thinks mobile networks, Ofcom, and the government aren’t going far enough to deliver mobile connectivity to isolated areas. They’ve issued a report that makes five recommendations for expanding 4G.

“While this report focuses solely on improving 4G coverage we are concerned that the Government has become distracted by the pursuit to achieve 5G, of which it has already committed £200 million, and that the countryside which is still lacking decent 4G coverage will lag behind,” said chair of the group Julian Sturdy, MP for York Outer.

“You cannot achieve 5G coverage without having a high-quality network in place for 4G and our report seeks to identify solutions to help achieve this goal across the countryside,” he added.

One recommendation made in the report is for the implementation of roaming in rural areas. Under the scheme, hard-to-reach areas would be served by a single network that all users could access, regardless of their provider.

The group also wants more transparency and accountability in the roll out of coverage, with mobile networks required to publish their roll out plans for the next 12 months, and publicise where they have delivered coverage in the preceding six months. The group intends for these plans to enable to public to hold mobile networks accountable for promises of coverage.

The APPG also wants Ofcom to prioritise achieving the government’s 95% geographic coverage target by 2022 over maximising spectrum fees when it auctions bands in the 700MHz spectrum. Mobile operators, Ofcom, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport should also produce by April 2019 a joint strategy of how to meet the 2022 target.

Additionally, the group has recommended that mobility connectivity remain at the heart of all planning, with local plans making provision for future mobile infrastructure and large infrastructure projects making increased mobile connectivity a core component of the project’s delivery.

“The recommendations that came out of this inquiry have at their heart the aim to improve rural coverage by overcoming the barriers highlighted by the operators themselves, rural interest groups and our own experiences as Members of Parliament,” said Sturdy.

Lauren Smith

Lauren Smith has worked as a journalist and copywriter for most of the last decade, covering technology, energy, and consumer rights, in the US and UK.

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