First of 120 Planned UK Gov Funded 4G Mast Upgrades Goes Live in Scotland

The first UK government-funded rural 4G mobile mast upgrade has today been completed in the Lockerbie area in Scotland, which forms part (£75m) of their industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project with EE (BT), Vodafone, Three UK and O2 (Virgin Media). A further 120+ masts in Scotland are also set for upgrades.

Just to recap. The SRN is an industry-led scheme – supported by a public investment of £500m and private funding of £530m from operators – that aims to help extend geographic 4G (mobile broadband) coverage to 95% of the UK – or 91% in Scotland – by the end of 2025 (it may also help the 5G rollout). The scheme involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas, and the demand-led building and sharing of new masts in others.

However, the 95% SRN target is only when a 4G service is available from at least one operator, while the UK coverage forecast for SRN completion for all operators (i.e. geographic areas where you’ll be able to take 4G from all four operators) is actually just 84% for the same date – falling to 74% in Scotland. But further SRN coverage improvements are also planned in even harder-to-reach areas between 2026 and early 2027.

So far we’ve already seen a lot of commercial SRN deployments from the main mobile operators. But today’s news highlights how £75m of public investment via the SRN is also being used to deliver more than 120 further 4G mast upgrades in rural parts of Scotland.

The first mast upgrade activated in Lockerbie from this pot of public money is thus intended to deliver 4G coverage to residents in the east of Dumfries and Galloway, while also benefitting people living in Boreland, Eskdalemuir, Lochmaben and other neighbouring villages. The new mast will also help to spread coverage via the 4G based Emergency Services Network (ESN), assuming they ever get it all working properly.

Chloe Smith, UK Science and Technology Secretary, said:

“We are investing in the things that matter to the people of the UK, and this includes funding strong, reliable 4G signal for rural communities struggling with poor coverage.

Our £75 million investment means people across Scotland will benefit from upgraded infrastructure that is fit for the future, starting with the first mast upgrade in Dumfries and Galloway.

Growing our economy is one of the Prime Minister’s top priorities and this includes bringing fast, reliable mobile signal to wherever people are, giving them all the connectivity they need to work, shop and keep in touch online.”

The upgraded mast also makes it usable by all four mobile operators (they’re all now live at the site), “meaning they can host and share equipment on it for the first time, offering improved signal and greater choice of provider for residents and businesses“.

As a side note, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will provide £184m of the £500m UK government SRN funding to the Home Office and mobile network operators to upgrade Extended Area Service (EAS) masts being built as part of the ESN, to make them usable by the four operators and offer commercial connectivity for the first time. Overall, there will be 292 EAS sites across Great Britain (with 123 in Scotland), although not all will be commercially upgraded due to various technical or value for money reasons.

This is all separate from the Scottish Government’s 4G Infill (S4GI) programme, which is delivering 4G infrastructure and services in up to 55 mobile “notspots” in rural and remote areas and has nearly completed. The SRN and S4GI programmes have, however, collaborated a little to ensure their work is complementary (here).