Posted: 15th Nov, 2010 By: MarkJ

The
Commission for Rural Communities (CRC), a little known UK government quango that seeks to help create diverse, thriving and sustainable rural communities, has launched an interesting new report to highlight the impact of poor mobile phone and Mobile Broadband coverage on rural communities.
The report makes six recommendations, one of which urges the government to introduce a
Universal Service Obligation (USO) for mobile operators. It also supports the government's
spectrum liberalisation plan, which allows mobile operators to use their 2G (voice) spectrum for 3G (Mobile Broadband) services.
It's worth pointing out that this study follows shortly after Ofcom published its initial research into UK mobile "
not-spots", areas of the country where mobile reception is too weak to function properly (
here). This found that 3G (Mobile Broadband) services can currently reach 87% of the population (drops to 76% in terms of raw geographic coverage).
11. Issues which need resolving [Report Sample]
11.1 Further research to capture the true costs of poor coverage.
Modern communications is the lifeblood of our economy and vital for the sustainability of rural areas. But rural areas will get left behind if the gulf between urban and rural connectivity is allowed to widen. In order to make a stronger business case for private and public investment in rural areas, all present and future rural needs have to be captured and quantified.
11.3 ‘One- stop shop’ for community mobile and broadband.
Communities could play a bigger role in improving their own communications infrastructure. France and Norway take a more holistic view of coverage and have a track record of local action and government grants which provide mechanisms for subsidising network operator costs in remote areas. These seem to be effective in significantly reducing the number of ‘not-spots’ in those countries.
However, as this research highlights, there are some obstacles preventing this happening in the UK. These include poor public understanding of communications technology and of how operators make investment decisions, and a lack of engagement between operators and rural communities.
11.8 Planning.
Communications should be integral to all planning applications if they are not already. Provisions in ‘Section 106’ gives local authorities the potential to embed mobile and broadband connectivity into their strategic planning by ensuring new housing and industrial developments have full mobile and broadband connectivity from at least two providers, from the outset. Where this is not the case, provision could be opened to tender, possibly to local bidders.
11.9 Private mobile networks.
[These] are currently used by large companies as a mobile equivalent of an in-house phone system, using smaller infrastructure including picocells (larger booster boxes used in offices, shopping centres and railway stations) and femtocells. These could be used in rural areas38 and the hardware housed by hubs including schools and community halls. They are potential solutions for areas without any network coverage or where there is only one operator.
11.10 Spectrum liberalisation.
Ofcom recently advised the Government that mobile operators should be able to use their 2G spectrum to carry 3G services. This is likely to bring significant benefits including faster mobile broadband speeds, improved indoor coverage and wider mobile coverage in rural areas. It would also address the capacity issue and the additional demands that 3G expansion is putting upon the spectrum currently allocated to 3G use (2.1GHz).
11.13 A Universal Service Obligation (USO) for mobile.
[This] would help bridge the coverage (and equity) gap between rural and urban areas. Imposing a minimum level of coverage would compel operators to offer ubiquitous coverage and may prompt a culture shift among providers that ubiquitous coverage is actually desirable and adds value to their brand, as in the case in other countries, including Norway.
It would translate the status of digital communications to utility status. The European Union consulted on the feasibility of a USO for digital communications earlier this year.
The CRC also points toward the government's current
Universal Service Commitment (USC), which hopes to make a minimum broadband download speed of 2Mbps available to everybody by
2012 2015, and warns that it, "
may not be sufficient to meet European standards".
The European Union (EU) wants to make "
basic" broadband provision compulsory by 2013, with a minimum access requirement of 30Mbps by 2020. However the UK government has traditionally taken a more cautious approach to legally binding USO's and preferred to leave broadband and mobile reception out of it.
We note that the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) is due to be scrapped by the government, with some or all of its functions being transferred to civil service, local government, another quango, expert committee, charity or private sector.
Rural mobile phone coverage – issues and recommendations (PDF)
http://ruralcommunities.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/ruralmobilecoverage.pdf