Chief among the topics discussed was the idea of implementing mandatory rural roaming, which would thus require MNOs to provide access to their sites to their rivals.
Julia Lopez, Minister for digital and data infrastructure, gave MPs an update on the progress made on the SRN project, which is aimed at delivering 4G coverage to 95 per cent of the UK, specifically to support rural businesses and communities.
In a debate brought by MP Helen Morgan, who today put forward a Private Members' Bill to legislate on the matter for a second reading, MPs discussed the challenges of rural mobile provision such as how a lack of provision is holding back economy activity, as well as the threat it poses to the health and safety of workers and residents alike. They also discussed the opportunities for providing better coverage and the work that has been done to date on SRN.
Morgan highlighted that a report for the Environment Farming and Rural Affairs Committee from 2019 had suggested that, if implemented, rural roaming could lead to 90–95 per cent landmass coverage within 18 months, which is comparable to the goals of SRN, but in a shorter timeframe.
Morgan said, “The rural region, accounting for about 20 per cent of Britain, is one of the least productive economic areas of the whole country. One fifth of our people live in rural areas, and we want to give them every opportunity they can to be productive and to access the job opportunities they need.”
Morgan went on to say that respondents to a Building Digital UK survey had cited poor mobile coverage as a major factor exacerbating poor outcomes from agricultural injuries. She added constituents were also angry that they couldn’t user the same mobile signal at home as at work, which was having a negative impact on their daily lives.
Another issue, Morgan said, was that residents often only had one choice of provider, which meant a lack of choice and competition. But she acknowledged that there were logistical challenges with putting masts in wild areas and the fact that a power supply is needed, while there was also need for mast and equipment sharing to limit the number of additional sites that are applied for.
“Less than a third of people who live outside the towns have a choice of more than one mobile operator,” said Morgan. “That is all based on the existing data maps of coverage, but we know, because the Minister acknowledged it in oral questions recently, that these data maps are extremely optimistic and do not always reflect the lived experience of people on the ground.”
In addition to this, Morgan said that the MNOs had failed to reach an agreement with EE to share their existing equipment. That meant, she said, the roll-out by the other three MNOs has been delayed and they were potentially building masts where they didn’t need to.
“There are lots of issues,” said Morgan. “We have a commercial failure to share equipment. We have a planning problem. We know everybody would benefit, so let us have a look at what the potential solution could be.
“Infrastructure sharing is absolutely key. We should be looking at how we can ensure that the commercial operators do better on that front.”
Lopez responded by acknowledging that balances needed to be made between investment and infrastructure versus competition and low prices for consumers and making sure that MNOs implement their security commitments. Despite these difficulties, she said that progress was being made in delivering better connectivity.
“The SRN supports economic growth and contributes substantially to public safety; an element of it involves building on the emergency services network,” said Lopez. “It means much greater life chances for people in those connected communities.”
Lopez added that government was looking at satellite connectivity pilots in the hardest areas to reach. While she admitted that some of these technologies wouldn’t substitute the gigabit roll-out, they were looking at areas where they could be applied. She added that she is in regular dialogue with MNOs about speeding up the SRN roll-out, but sometimes a bit of give and take was required.
“I have robust conversations with the mobile network operators,” said Lopez. “Bear in mind that we are asking quite a lot of them, and there are a number of commitments. We want them to speed up roll-out and to make sure that their network infrastructure is secure, so there is a little bit of give and take on some of these issues.”
MP Anthony Mangnall also defended SRN’s progress, saying that, contrary to negative reports in some rural areas, connectivity in Devon has increased from about 84 per cent to the high 90s percentile. He added that Devon County Council has been working hard to make sure that the hard-to-reach areas are receiving coverage and notspots are being eliminated.