Three UK Build First Shared Rural 4G Mast Site with O2 and Vodafone
Mobile operator Three UK has today announced that they’ve started construction of the UK’s first joint mast site in Scotland under the £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, which is expected to go live in early 2023 and supply 4G (mobile broadband) connectivity to customers on the Isle of Mull.
The SRN is an industry-led scheme – supported by a public investment of £500m and £530m from operators – that aims to help extend geographic 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025 (it may also help the 5G rollout). The scheme essentially involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-led building and sharing of new masts in others between the operators.
As part of this Three UK is leading the build of the project’s first joint site on the Isle of Mull. This is one of 66 sites across Argyll and Bute that will deliver 4G connectivity as part of the SRN programme. It aims to increase geographic coverage from 56% of Scotland’s landmass to “at least” 72% by 2024, the largest SRN commitment among the home nations.
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Customers of both O2 and Vodafone will also be able to use the site, which reflects an earlier agreement that will see each MNO build 74 shared sites, which so far as we can tell was announced nearly two years ago in January 2021 (here).
Suffice to say that it’s taken a long time for Three UK to turn the original agreement into their first joint mast site, although this is perhaps unsurprising given the complexity of finding good locations, securing planning permission and then supplying power / fibre to such sites. None of that is an easy process.
Iain Milligan, CNO of Three UK, said:
“Mobile connectivity is absolutely critical for communities in every part of the UK, helping to support the local economy and keeping people connected with their friends and family. I am proud that Three is leading the way by delivering the first of these shared sites in the Scottish Isles where I believe it will have a transformative effect on coverage.”
Three will next start construction on two further sites in Argyll and Bute, and Aberdeenshire, before Christmas as it ramps up its programme of improvements in Scotland. As part of the wider SRN programme, work is also well underway across all home nations, with 51 new sites already live.
The coverage target for the SRN does tend to vary a bit between the regions, depending also on whether you’re looking at individual operators or all of them.
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SRN Impact on UK 4G Coverage
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4G Coverage from at least one MNO pre-SRN |
4G Coverage from at least one MNO by end of 2025 |
4G coverage from all MNOs pre-SRN Advertisement |
4G coverage from all MNOs by end of 2025 |
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Overall |
91% |
95% |
69% |
84% |
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England |
97% |
98% |
84% |
90% |
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Scotland |
81% |
91% |
44% |
74% |
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Wales |
90% |
95% |
60% |
80% |
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Northern Ireland |
97% |
98% |
79% |
85% |
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, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Great, I guess. But.. too many eggs in the same basket.
The likely alternative is no basket at all.
Since 3 and EE share mast I take it EE will have a 4G service from this mast as well
No EE still needs to install radio and use own spectrum as per their license
As much as I love Three, it’s annoying how they’ve dragged their feet on the SRN. But I’m happy they are now involved.
We need more masts with all four Mobile Network Operators. Especially in rural places.
Three has dragged its feet? really? Are other networks doing more or do you just dislike three?
@Four. No what I meant was it took Three all this time to actually make a move on the SRN. It’s presence has mostly been absent from the team up.
Three is my mobile operator. They have done a great job around South Wales with 5G & improving their 4G network. They are the best, for me.
It’s all good news. Glad to SRN is finally a reality. Also quite a lot of the ESN , EAS Masts are goingto be utilised for sharing via SRN.
Why 4G and not 5G ?
LTE has a lot of life left in it. Especially with LTE-Advanced [4.9G] & it carries voice. That’s the priority, especially with 3G-HSPA shutting down over the next two years.
But it gives them opportunity to also add 5G-NR on the masts they build & I expect they will probably add it to most of them.
I’m amazed that this is the UK’s first shared mast site! Operators in South Africa have been sharing sites for over 20 years.
it isn’t the first mast sharing at all, its the first shared mast under the SRN.
SRN is just for rural sites where its usually not economically viable to drop a mast in. SRN is pretty new.
Providers already mast share. O2/Vodafone and EE/3 are the general pairings.
The biggest issue with SRN is that all of their sites will be located in areas in which the four big UK operators admit they have coverage gaps, not where there are real world gaps. What this means is that if you live in a Not Spot in a city or in other areas notionally covered by MNO service, then there will be no new SRN masts deployed in your area!
How big is the problem? OFCOM signed off the MNO Coverage Obligations (put in place by Sajid Javid when he was Secretary of State at DCMS) as being complete. This includes the acceptance that O2 4G coverage is available indoors in 98% of UK properties and that all 4 MNOs achieved 100% coverage inside of the M25. Clearly this is not reflected in reality!
Sadly, I suspect that the likelihood of SRN achieving their declared objectives will be similar to the experience gained in the earlier Mobile Infrastructure Project (MIP) which ran late and achieved only a fraction of its declared coverage targets. The technology and deployment methods used by SRN are similar to those used by MIP but with the difference that the easiest sites to cover have already been built.