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The UK Government’s Minister for Telecoms, Sir Chris Bryant, this week provided more details to parliament on how Ofcom would soon improve the accuracy and relevance of their mobile coverage maps, which made particular reference to the minimum required 4G mobile broadband speed (currently 2Mbps) – this will shortly be more than doubled to 5Mbps.
A few months ago ISPreview reported on how Ofcom said they’d been “working hard to overhaul our mobile coverage checker” in order to better match people’s real-world experiences (here), particularly of modern 4G and 5G (mobile broadband) services. At the time, we noted that the regulator intend to launch the result of all their work “later this year“, but we weren’t given a solid date.
The regulator’s existing Mobile Coverage Checker is currently based on predictions from the mobile network operators themselves (EE, Vodafone, Three UK and O2). Such predictions are generated using computer programs that simulate the way mobile signals travel from mobile masts and are blocked by any obstructions such as hills, trees, and buildings. But as we all know, this isn’t always very reliable.
At present, we already know that the improved checker will use higher signal strength thresholds when presenting local predictions, while also providing clearer explanations of the issues and the specific functions of the web-checker. Ofcom also intends to assess predicted signal strength information at a more granular level (50 or 25 square metres, instead of the current 100 square metres) to determine if it is possible to reduce the local uncertainty to some extent.
However, this week saw Sir Chris Bryant reveal that, from “about the middle” of June 2025, Ofcom would start reporting on mobile network coverage using a required minimum data speed figure of 5Mbps (Megabits per second).
Sir Chris Bryant said:
“Reporting of mobile coverage is something that frustrates many of us. The Ofcom site may say, “96% of all four networks available everywhere across the whole of your constituency,” but I say, “No, you can’t get a signal anywhere in Hannah Street in the middle of Porth—end of story.” I have been in discussion with Ofcom, and we have exchanged letters, which I have placed in the Library of the House of Commons, about how it is going to change its reporting.
That reporting has historically been based in part on two things: first, the coverage predicted by the mobile phone companies, which might not necessarily match people’s experience; and, secondly, 2 megabits per second, which frankly is of no earthly use to anybody — most of us now want 5 megabits per second.
From about the middle of June, Ofcom will be reporting across the whole of the country on 2 megabits per second and 5 megabits per second, so people will have a much clearer understanding of the situation on the ground. I hope that might drive further commercial investment from the mobile phone operators, which will say, “You know what? We need to make sure we have more masts in this area, because frankly it’s not good enough.””
Leaving aside the fact that “hope” is not a strategy (i.e. the reference above to all mobile operators boosting commercial investment in poorly served areas), the move to adopt both a 2Mbps and 5Mbps measure for 4G is useful, although even 5Mbps seems a bit archaic by modern standards. But it is important to reflect that this a minimum, and operators are still expected to do better.
The fact that the 2Mbps figure is still being retained may, however, cause some confusion for consumers. But we suspect they’re taking that approach in order to avoid changing the targets – mid-flight – for existing rules and programmes, such as the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project.
Lest we forget that the regulator is also still examining the use of measured data, including crowdsource data, to build on these coverage predictions. Finally, once the new checker has launched, Ofcom will move to consider undertaking a larger scale performance measurement programme to complement coverage predictions and further enhance their mobile reporting.
As a side note, one MP also asked Chris whether the government planned to cut (i.e. in their future Spending Review) any of the £2bn that remains unspent within their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband roll-out scheme. But the minister did not know the answer to that as such things tend to be decided by HM Treasury.