Government Preps Universal Service Obligation for UK Mobile

The UK Government yesterday introduced new powers for the Secretary of State to, among other things, establish a new Universal Service Obligation (USO) for 4G or 5G mobile networks “in the future,” albeit only if that is “deemed necessary.” Questions will now be raised over what such a USO would look like.

The changes were introduced as part of the Government’s proposals to introduce the revised European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) into UK law, which among other things will ban mobile network operators from selling “locked” handsets, improve phone number portability and make it easier for consumers to switch between broadband ISPs on physically separate networks (summary).

At present a Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband connectivity already exists, which gives everybody the “legal right” to “request” a 10Mbps+ connection from a supporting ISP; albeit mostly focused on helping to connected those in the final 2% of UK premises (590,000 properties) where such speeds aren’t yet possible via fixed lines. Sadly, that USO is far from perfect (here and here) and is currently being probed by Ofcom (here).

Nevertheless, the Government’s plan to amend the existing legislation in order to support the new EECC also includes the ability to introduce a future USO for mobile connectivity, even if they don’t yet know what that would actually look like. Take note that this won’t be affected by Brexit as the UK supports these changes.

Baroness Barran MBE, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (DCMS), said:

“The instrument also includes powers for the Secretary of State to establish a mobile universal service obligation in the future if that is deemed necessary, and ensures that people who use legacy universal service obligation services, such as payphones, telephone directories, fax and particular methods of billing, will continue to be able to do so.

Additionally, the instrument introduces measures to update the regime for social tariffs for telephony and broadband, should they be required. These will ensure that consumers with low incomes or other specific social needs are able to access universal services at affordable prices where the market does not provide these commercially or on a voluntary basis.”

The Minister for UK Digital Infrastructure, Matt Warman MP, later clarified that “the draft regulations give us the powers to consider what a mobile USO might look like,” but he added that “we do not immediately intend to take that forward.”

Matt Warman MP said:

“It is a statement of the obvious that more and more households, especially with the growth of 5G, will be able to rely on a mobile service rather than anything else. Given that the USO is really important, the draft regulations give us the power to go further but we are not announcing anything as yet.”

We suspect that the Government will first want to see how the new £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) proceeds, which aims to help extend geographic 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025 (it will also benefit the 5G rollout). The SRN involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-led building and sharing of new masts in others, between all four operators – Vodafone, Three UK, EE [BT] and O2.

The SRN’s approach means that operators can cut the cost of expanding coverage into rural areas, which will not only improve consumer choice but also help to increase general network coverage (mostly by building new masts). Much of this will be overseen by a jointly owned company called Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited (DMSL), which claims it will “guarantee” coverage to 280,000 additional premises and 16,000km of roads.

All of these things sound good on paper, but in the past almost every new programme of rural mast building that we’ve ever seen has run into problems with cost, supply (power, fibre etc.), access (wayleaves) and local opposition to related planning applications for new infrastructure.

Many rural communities tend to cry out for mobile improvements, but at the same time not everybody wants to see the masts that need to be built, especially if they end up being taller than existing ones (although this often results in the beneficial removal of many smaller masts). Unfortunately, you can’t have one without the other, but some of these challenges will be tackled through the Government’s new Mobile Planning Reforms.

Suffice to say that it may be a bit too early to implement a USO for mobile connectivity, but we can certainly get that debate started now. After all, it took several years to design and implement the broadband USO and the same would no doubt be true for a mobile one.

We’re certain this will crop up again as the new legislation is debated, although it’s worth noting that getting mobile operators to agree on anything has historically been akin to herding angry cats.