Campaigners calling for better 4G broadband

CAMPAIGNERS HAVE spoken out after it was revealed that many rural homes including in parts of Yorkshire lack 4G broadband connections.

The Country Land and Business Association – known as the CLA – called for urgent action following the revelation that in 14 rural local authority areas in England, four out of five households do not receive 4G mobile coverage from any of the “big four” mobile network providers.

The CLA says that as of the end of 2017 there are no legal targets in place to ensure the mobile network operators invest in improvements. The CLA, which represents 30,000 landowners, farmers and rural businesses, has asked Ofcom to force mobile network operators to improve coverage in rural areas.

It is calling for EE, O2, Vodafone and Three to be required to deliver 4G coverage to 95 per cent of the UK geographic landmass on all networks by 2022.

CLA president Tim Breitmeyer said: “People living and working in rural areas are missing out on the opportunities that we take for granted in towns and cities to improve the productivity of their businesses, to attract new businesses into their communities, to make emergency calls, and to have the same instant access to social and educational resources. This inequality is simply not good enough.”

The 15 worst-affected areas include Ribble Valley and Richmondshire in Yorkshire.

It follows an announcement by the Government that superfast broadband is now available to more than 19 out of 20 UK homes and businesses.

The £1.7bn Government rollout of superfast broadband to areas deemed “not commercially viable” by industry has so far reached more than 4.5 million UK premises that would otherwise have been left in the connectivity slow lane, the majority of which are in rural areas.

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, admitted: “There’s still more to do in our work building a Britain that’s fit for the future”.