Rural Britons ‘trapped’ on mobile networks
I bought a mobile wireless router from a shop in Truro. It was recommended by my friend and occasional project mentor Rob Poole. I used it to write Hinterland in a coffee shop in the town, receiving inspiration from the caffeine and the passing parade in that beautiful city, rounded off by a cup of Tregothnan Tea grown in Cornwall. I bragged to Jessica I had the solution to all our rural broadband challenges.
Arriving early for a meeting in Masham, where you can get stronger beverages from a very famous brewery I resolved to show her how it worked. We found a tea shop in the square turned on: ipad, bluetooth connection, lap top, mobile phone and the router. By which time the regulars were becoming somewhat distracted from their breakfast chat. Cutting a long story short all my efforts were in vain because the wretched device could not find a mobile signal. It is in the light of this experience that I bring you this article which reminds us that mobile coverage is just as big a challenge as broadband access in rural England.
“Customers in rural areas in particular often receive no signal at all, or are limited to just one ‘3G’ network, communications regulator Ofcom found. Modern 3G networks from all the major operators were not available to 27 per cent ofUKpremises.
The new data was part of Ofcom’s first ‘Infrastructure Report’, which it is now obliged to submit to the Government every three years. It has mapped mobile phone and broadband coverage, as well as the capacity of the UK’S landline network, digital radio and TV.
EachUKmobile operator is contractually obliged to cover 80 per cent of theUK, but is free to choose the areas that it believes will be most profitable. That leaves densely populated cities with a highly competitive market, while one in eight UK households or businesses is left with no more than two operators to choose from, if they can get a signal at all. These are predominantly in rural areas.”
I just wonder if in the “dash for broadband” we have let the mobile companies get away with this issue?