£1bn mobile coverage fund to banish rural not-spots

Digital Secretary Nicky Morgan has announced a £1 billion deal with the mobile phone industry to tackle poor mobile phone coverage and banish rural not-spots.

The move will bring 4G coverage to 95 per cent of the UK by 2025 and be a huge boost for consumers. The government hopes that the investment will enable more people in rural areas to benefit from the speed and efficiency of services on the go - from booking travel, shopping online or speaking to friends and family.

Morgan is supportive of a £530 million proposal from the UK’s mobile network operators for a Shared Rural Network with the potential for it to be matched by £500 million investment from government. This would be a world-first deal with EE, O2, Three and Vodafone investing in a network of new and existing phone masts they would all share.

Under the proposal, the four operators will invest £530 million to open up and share existing masts and infrastructure to close almost all partial not-spots - areas where there is currently only coverage from at least one but not all operators. It would also mean additional mobile coverage for 280,000 premises and 16,000 kilometres of roads.

Morgan said: said: “We are determined to make sure no part of the country is left behind when it comes to mobile connectivity. We are closing in on a deal with the mobile network operators so those living in rural areas will be able to get the fast and reliable mobile coverage they need and deserve.

“Brokering an agreement for mast sharing between networks alongside new investment in mobile infrastructure will mean people get good 4G signal no matter where they are or which provider they’re with. But it is not yet a done deal and I want to see industry move quickly so we can reach a final agreement early next year.”