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<p>The Government announced on 9 March that it had agreed a deal with the mobile network
operators to deliver the Shared Rural Network programme. This will see Government
and industry jointly invest to increase 4G mobile coverage throughout the UK to 95%
geographic coverage by end-2025. Coverage is based on Ofcom’s definition of good quality
4G coverage, which is the minimum signal strength required to deliver a 90-second
telephone call and a download speed of at least 2Mbit/s, 95% of the time.</p><p>The
Shared Rural Network is underpinned by legally binding coverage commitments from each
operator to have reached at least 90%, which will be assessed in 2026. Ofcom will
regularly report on coverage improvements towards this goal through its Connected
Nations report.</p><p>Exact site deployment plans will be managed by the operators
themselves in order for them to best deliver the agreed coverage outcomes. However,
we expect that consumers will feel the benefit of the programme long before its conclusion
and the operators will consult with communities as roll out plans become clearer.</p><p>While
the biggest improvements in coverage arising from the Shared Rural Network will be
in Scotland and Wales, there will be improvements across all four nations. 4G geographic
coverage in England is currently 97% from at least one operator and 81% from all four
operators. As a result of the programme, this will increase to 98% coverage from at
least one operator, and 90% from all four by end-2025.</p><p>The Shared Rural Network
will help close the digital divide between urban and rural areas by improving mobile
coverage in largely rural areas across the whole of the UK. The programme is not directly
aimed at improving coverage in dense inner-city areas such as the West End of London
which, typically, have good 4G coverage from all four operators, and it will remain
a commercial decision for operators to decide whether to improve coverage in such
areas.</p><p>We are aware of the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society
Index report 2019, which compares 4G coverage of homes across Member States. The report,
available via the following link, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi"
target="_blank">https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi</a> suggests that
in 2018, based on an average of operator coverage, there was 98% 4G coverage of UK
homes. This compared to 95% for France, and an EU average of 94%. The Shared Rural
Network will help to improve our European standing by providing additional coverage
to 280,000 premises.</p><p>While the vast majority of commercial rollout of 5G services
will be delivered by industry and according to their own timeframes, government is
committed to being a world leader in 5G technology and providing a 5G signal to a
majority of the population by 2027. The Government is investing in a nationally coordinated
programme of 5G testbed facilities and application trials to help achieve this, and
has allocated £200 million from the National Productivity Investment Fund to the 5G
Programme, which launched in 2017 and will run until March 2022.</p>
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