The boss of Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited (DMSL), which represents the four major mobile operators (EE, O2, Vodafone and Three UK), has today confirmed that a total of 30 government-funded rural 4G (mobile broadband) mast upgrades have now gone live across the United Kingdom via the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project.
The SRN – supported by £501m of public funding and £532m of private investment from operators – involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-led building and sharing of new masts in others between the operators. The target is to extend geographic 4G coverage (aggregate) to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025, which falls to 84% when only considering the areas where you’ll be able to take 4G from all providers (5G will also benefit from the new infrastructure).
Most of the early work on this project has typically involved private investment from the main mobile network operators, although over the past year or so we’ve also seen government-funded mast upgrades and new site builds taking place in other parts of the country (examples here, here, here, here and here).
In the case of today’s announcement, we’re focused on the part of the SRN that sees the government (DSIT) providing a total of £184m from their pot to the Home Office and mobile network operators, which will help upgrade Extended Area Service (EAS) masts being built as part of the 4G Emergency Services Network (ESN) – these masts previously only connected EE customers and anyone making 999 calls (all operators can now use them).
A total of 30 “Government-funded” (publicly funded) 4G mast upgrades are now live across the UK, including 21 sites in Wales, 5 in Scotland and 4 in England. The latest (30th) to go live today was a site in the North York Moors National Park, which has helped to extend coverage by all four mobile operators across areas including Helmsley, Harome, Great Edstone and Cold Kirby.
Ben Roome, CEO of Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited (DMSL), said:
“Since March 2020, when the Shared Rural Network was announced, 4G coverage from all four operators in England has expanded by over 11,000 square kilometres, nearly the size of the West Midlands region. This programme will continue to improve 4G service for people in rural areas as more shared mobile sites go live.”
Sir Chris Bryant, Telecoms Minister, said:
“For far too long, people living and working in remote places have been battling with poor phone signal.
It is fantastic to see 30 Government-funded masts being switched on, breaking down digital divides across the UK. Thanks to the Shared Rural Network we are not only improving the quality of life for communities in these remote areas of Britain, but also creating more opportunities for local businesses, boosting tourism, and helping emergency services save lives.”
Since the SRN programme began in 2020, an additional 34,000 square kilometres – an area roughly double the size of Northern Ireland – are receiving coverage from all four operators across the United Kingdom. The deployment ultimately aims to benefit to provide coverage to an additional 280,000 premises and 16,000km of the UK’s roads, once completed.
Ofcom’s most recent Connected Nations 2024 report revealed that 4G coverage, where it is available from at least one mobile operator, has now reached 95% of the UK’s landmass (delivering early on one of the key targets for the SRN programme), with 4G geographic coverage across individual MNOs in the UK rising from a range of 80-87% last year to 88-89% this year.
Just for some extra context. The SRN includes two key targets. The first involves the delivery of industry funded coverage improvements in Partial Not-Spot (PNS) areas (i.e. areas that receive coverage from at least one operator, but not all), which Ofcom said has already been hit (here).
The second target involves tackling Total Not-Spot (TNS) areas by early 2027. Just to be clear, Ofcom’s licence obligations commit each individual operator to increase its 4G coverage to 88% of the UK’s landmass by June 2024 – rising to 90% by January 2027 – with these individual obligations supporting the overall target of 95% by December 2025.