UK government proposes £1.3bn scheme to improve rural mobile coverage

Aiming to address one of the most contentious issues being felt by rural communities, the UK government has set out its plans to make radical improvement on mobile phone coverage across the country.

Working in conjunction with the four leading UK operators, the £1.3bn scheme dubbed the Shared Rural Network (SRN) proposes to wipe not-spots from the map, giving what the government claims will be ‘high-quality’ 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by 2025.

The scheme has the target of providing additional coverage to 280,000 homes and businesses and 10,000 miles of roads. Initial outlines of the scheme, which is projected to be fully signed in early 2020, will include funding to the tune of £530m from the UK’s mobile network operators with the potential for it to be matched by £500m investment from the government.