Ofcom is to give businesses and rural communities the opportunity to build bespoke mobile networks by releasing licensed but unused spectrum on a local basis.

The regulator is inviting applications for the 1800MHz and 2300MHz bands currently used for mobile services, the 3.4-3.8GHz band used for 5G, and the 26GHz millimetre-wave (mmWave) band earmarked for high capacity 5G services.

Although mobile operators hold licenses to some of these airwaves, they do not make use of them in parts of the country. Where an operator is not making use of the spectrum, Ofcom wants to see the potential realised.

Ofcom believes spectrum sharing could allow manufacturers to create private networks for connected factories, farmers to build local networks across large sites to connect people and machinery – enabling the Internet of Things (IOT) – and business and holiday parks to improve connectivity.

It would also pave the way for rural areas not covered by the commercial rollout of 4G and 5G to build local networks for residents.

Any party wanting to take advantage of the new regulations needs to submit an application to Ofcom with details of the band, location, bandwidth and power required. Ofcom will then assess the potential for interference with other users of the spectrum and grant a licence based on a per-area or per-base station basis.

Ofcom is looking at other ways to improve rural coverage. If a reported deal between government and mobile operators to build masts in rural areas is not reached, then Ofcom plans to offer discounted 5G spectrum in exchange for coverage obligations at the next auction of airwaves.

According to the regulator’s Connected Nations 2018 report, almost all properties can receive a good indoor 4G signal from at least one operator while 77 per cent are covered by all four major networks – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone – up from 65 per cent last year.

However, while 83 per cent of urban premises receive what could be classified as “good” coverage, only 41 per cent of rural properties do, and in some areas there is no coverage at all.

From the 1st March, drivers using their phones at the wheel will be doubly penalised; being fined £200 and have six points put on their license.

Journalists, keen to explain the situation to viewers and readers, set off to cover the new rules at a Thames Valley Police organised press event in Abingdon, Oxfordshire on Wednesday morning.

However, one allegedly got caught using their phone while at the wheel, and faced the new penalty while on the way to cover it.

Eagle-eyed journalist Dominic Reynolds from 5 News took a photograph of the incident, writing on Twitter: “Breaking Irony News: a journalist driving here to cover phone/driving crackdown has just been busted: £200, 6pts”.

The number of devices connected to mobile phone networks will overtake the number of people on Earth within five years, according to the technology group Ericsson.

There will be 9bn mobile subscriptions by 2017, up from 6.2bn at the start of this year, while the US census bureau predicts the global population will have reached 7.4 billion in five years.

Driven by demand for video, internet usage and storage of electronic files in the “cloud” rather than on home or office computers, traffic over mobile networks will grow even faster than subscriptions.