Villages that don’t even have a basic mobile signal

URGENT action is required to tackle Britain’s ‘deplorable’ mobile phone coverage, the chairman of the infrastructure commission has demanded.

Large swathes of the country, particularly rural areas, ‘may not be getting even the most basic services’, Lord Adonis complains today. The mobile phone networks are developing a new high-speed 5G service, but many areas do not get 4G, which is needed for good access to the internet, or even a robust 3G signal, which is necessary to make calls.

Lord Adonis has written to the head of the telecoms watchdog Ofcom, saying urgent steps are needed to boost the geographical reach of mobile coverage.

Last week Ofcom revealed 4G is available from all four of the networks across only 43 per cent of the UK’s landmass, while 30 per cent of the country does not receive a basic signal.

Lord Adonis suggests radical measures such as allowing the public to ‘roam’ on to whichever network has the best signal. Ofcom director Steve Unger said the body is taking steps to deal with poor coverage.