Mobile operators ‘abandoning countryside to digital wilderness’
I think the lack of good mobile connectivity, particularly in view of recent trends in the use of mobile devices, is just as iniquitous as a lack of broadband. This article tells us:
Mobile operators are abandoning the countryside to a “digital wilderness” by failing to submit planning applications, according to the CLA.
New information shows that mobile network operators are failing to submit planning applications for new mobile phone masts to resolve the coverage in some of the worst served rural areas.
In Rutland, which has the worst 4G coverage of any local authority area in England or Wales, no planning application for a new mast was made by any mobile operator in 2015, 2016 or 2017.
Other rural local authority areas where no applications were made in any of those three years include the Forest of Dean and Tunbridge Wells.
The CLA, which represents landowners and farmers, obtained the new data through Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to planning authorities across England and Wales.