Mobile coverage target ‘will be missed’

● Ofcom chief says Scotland’s mountains are a major headache for phone firms

By JANE BRADLEY

Consumer Affairs Correspondent plans in an auction of radio frequency for mobiles.

Mr Hanif said the problem of parts of the country having no mobile signal at all was “really hard to solve”.

He said: “I think we are very clear that we are not going to get to the 95 per cent. The reality is, it is improving but clearly not fast enough and demands are increasing.

“The government has set a target for 95 per cent geographical coverage, which is a revolution in the way we measure coverage because before we would only target coverage to where people actually lived, to houses.”

He added: “The next thing we can do seeing where the gap is… a lot of those areas are national parks, like the Cairngorms, a lot of those are mountains.

“I just flew over them yesterday and I was thinking what a challenge that is. It can be cracked but only through innovation.”

The current deadline for the target, which is expected to boost UK GDP by £75 billion, is the end of 2022.

Mr Hanif said that technological developments such as low orbit satellites and deviceto-device technology could help go further.

“I don’t really think anyone wants to build thousands of ugly towers in national parks,“he added.

“If there are smarter ways 0 Ofcom technology chief Mansoor Hanif spoke to MSPS

to achieve that [coverage] through innovation then I think we should be looking at that.”

Rural economy and connectivity committee member Stewart Stevenson criticised Ofcom’s decision to reduce the geographical target in its coverage obligations from at least 76 per cent in Scotland to at least 74 per cent.

The target for England and Northern Ireland was also reduced by 2 per cent, while Wales remained static.

Mr Stevenson asked: “Isn’t it absolutely perverse that we are seeing the target for coverage being reduced at the present when in fact it should be increased?”

The SNP MSP said his Banffshire home gets “0G”, adding: “I would say that we should have no improvements in telephony services in cities, of any kind, including 5G, until we get decent rural coverage.”

Natalie Hitchins, Which? head of home products and services, said: “Millions of people already suffering from a poor signal will be concerned to learn that they may have to continue to suffer for years with substandard mobile coverage.

“The government must deliver on its commitment and urgently work with the regulator to resolve their differences to ensure those already feeling left behind finally get the mobile coverage they need and deserve.”

Ofcom’s regulatory affairs manager Jonathan Ruff said: “More needs to be done to improve rural coverage. The 74 per cent target we’ve proposed for Scotland is the largest increase of any of the UK nations.

“Scotland is coming from a lower point, I think the average 4G coverage is around 50 per cent of landmass.”