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90 Cross-Party MPs Call for Better UK Mobile Cover and National Roaming

Saturday, Oct 29th, 2016 (8:23 am) - Score 917

A new report from the British Infrastructure Group (BIG), which was setup by Grant Shapps (Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield), has brought together 90 cross-party Members of Parliament in order to demand better UK mobile coverage and a limited national roaming agreement.

At present most of the United Kingdom’s primary Mobile Network Operators (Three UK, Vodafone, O2 and EE) are aiming to deliver 98% population coverage of 4G (LTE) based mobile broadband technology by the end of 2017 and one (EE) has effectively already achieved that goal. Most operators also claim to have already delivered 99%+ coverage of 2G and 3G services.

However for many people the reality is that mobile coverage remains patchy and unreliable, which is partly due to the fact that geographic (landmass) coverage is still fairly poor and also because Ofcom’s coverage estimates are often more optimistic than even those figures being supplied by mobile operators’ themselves.

Back in December 2014 the Government reached a new £5bn legally binding agreement with all of the major mobile operators, which committed them to extending their geographic network coverage (voice and text) of the United Kingdom to 90% by the end of 2017 (falling to 85% for Mobile Broadband [3G / 4G] data coverage).

However today’s new report – ‘Mobile Coverage: A Good Call for Britain?‘ – claims that the mobile network operators are “unlikely to achieve the [geographic coverage] targets” and even if they do then coverage related issues may continue to be a problem unless the Government takes more action.

Grant Shapps MP said:

“Although the British mobile communications sector has flourished through sustained private sector investment, comparing favourably with EU markets in terms of service costs and technological advances, visitors to Britain have consistently enjoyed better and broader mobile coverage. Whereas British consumers remain stuck with a single provider, international SIM cards roam between different networks. This is a bad call for connectivity in Britain.

Instead, this report takes a second look at the costs and benefits of national roaming, and urges the Government to reconsider this approach on a smaller scale, in areas severely affected by ‘not spots’. In light of Ofcom recently fining Vodafone £4.6 million for breaching consumer protection rules, the treatment of mobile consumers requires greater scrutiny.

This BIG report also urges the passage of the Digital Economy Bill, to kick start much-needed reforms to the Electronic Communications Code and to provide Ofcom with the ability to ensure that mobile operators become accountable to consumers. Britain is yet to achieve mobile coverage for all. The Government must rethink which policies are the best call for Britain.”

It’s perhaps worth pointing out that BT’s recent financial results included an update on EE’s geographic 4G network coverage, which currently sits at about 70% (the other operators are nearly at this level too). In that update it was reported that EE’s geographic coverage should grow to reach 92% by September 2017 and then 95% by the end of December 2020.

EE’s rivals haven’t been as clear about their expectations for geographic coverage, but at the very least they have committed to deliver the 90% target by the end of 2017. As such it may perhaps be a bit premature to reconsider reviving the demand for national roaming, at least until we’ve seen if the MNOs can deliver and what impact that has.

Just to be clear, a national roaming policy would focus on improving mobile coverage by forcing operators in mostly rural locations to adopt greater sharing of key infrastructure, such as masts (details). Suffice to say that the big network operators were bitterly opposed to this, not least since it would effectively give a free ride to those that haven’t invested as much in order to improve rural mobile coverage (some warned that this could also discourage future investment). In the end the idea was abandoned in favour of the aforementioned £5bn agreement.

Sadly some big obstacles remain. In particular the failure of the Government’s earlier £150m Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP) demonstrated that getting planning permission for new masts in sensitive rural areas, as well as securing related access to private land and supplying those masts with the necessary power / network capacity is far from easy (here).

The new Digital Economy Bill 2016-17 contains vital revisions to update the Electronic Communications Code (ECC) and remove barriers, such as by making it easier and cheaper to install such infrastructure on private land. However land owners remain less than keen on the idea and have repeatedly tried to block some of the key measures (here).

In the end many of the recommendations being made in today’s report reflect changes that are already in the process of happening, although some (e.g. making it cheaper / easier to access private land and national roaming) are a lot easier to say than they are to actually deliver.

Conclusions and recommendations

1. There were 39.5 million 4G mobile subscriptions in the UK at the end of 2015.77 However, the average proportion of premises with 4G cover provided by all four MNOs was just 66.25%.78 The British mobile communications market may compare favourably with EU competitors, but services must be improved for consumers and costs should be reduced within the sector. The £5 billion investment agreement between the Government and mobile communications industry still has a year left to provide better mobile infrastructure and 90% mobile voice coverage in geographic locations across the UK. However, this report has found that the lack of progress by the sector in improving mobile voice and internet coverage remains just as troubling as in 2014. The Digital Economy Bill proposes that Ofcom should be able to fine mobile operators that have not reached the targets of this £5 billion investment agreement. Therefore, BIG calls on the Government to request an update in December 2016 from the four mobile operators on their progress towards achieving these goals. The British public deserve to be assured that this agreement was a good call.

2. BIG took a second look at national roaming, one of the key policy options considered in the DCMS consultation of November 2014. An assessment of the costs, consisting primarily of technical difficulties, cost-sharing issues and security concerns, was compared with the relative benefits of national roaming. These included the potential creation of market competition in the mobiles sector, and an increase in consumer choice. Instead, BIG concluded that a compromise would be better for both consumers and mobile operators. This would take the form of ‘macro not spot’ roaming. Operators would share networks, enabling mobiles to roam, but only in areas severely affected by ‘not spots’. By targeting a system of ‘macro not spot’ roaming in areas with poor signal, the Government could encourage competition between mobile operators and allow consumers to finally access decent mobile coverage. Therefore, BIG recommends that the DCMS undertake an impact assessment of ‘macro not spot’ roaming, to determine the feasibility of implementing this policy in rural areas.

3. Mobile consumers also need better protection. Unlike other regular household expenditures, such as utilities, mobile contracts remain extremely complex and ambiguous. 38% of mobile users surveyed by Ofcom in 2016 reported experiencing ‘major’ difficulties when switching provider. If a mobile user experiences poor coverage, there are often very limited grounds for terminating their contract free of charge. Instead, BIG recommends that Ofcom establishes a Minimum Service Obligation for mobile operators to fulfil. Otherwise, consumers should be eligible to terminate mobile contracts free of charge. This consumer protection measure must also be included as a provision of the Digital Economy Bill.

4. Finally, the passage of the Digital Economy Bill must be prioritised by the Government. The Bill includes provisions to reform the Electronic Communications Code (ECC) and bring Britain’s regulatory framework for mobile communications into the twenty-first century. Demand for the highest quality of mobile data is only increasing, and the ECC was first implemented before the introduction of 2G services. The reform of wayleave valuation would save significant mobile operator costs, which could instead be allocated towards the reduction of mobile ‘not spots’ across the country. Finally, the proposals to allow Ofcom to fine mobile operators that do not meet the targets laid out in the £5 billion investment agreement would ensure accountability in our mobile communications sector. The Digital Economy Bill represents a forward-thinking vision for a connected, inclusive Britain. Now, the Government must make the right call to achieve this.

Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
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