The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said that the lack of rural connectivity is holding UK farming back.

This is a conclusion it has drawn based on the findings from its recently published Digital Technology Survey, which heard from 846 NFU farmer members between December 9, 2021 and March 13, 2022.

It found that only 38% of respondents said their broadband speed is sufficient for the needs of their business – which is 2% worse than the NFU’s corresponding 2021 survey.

“This survey makes for very disappointing reading,” said NFU vice president David Exwood.

“It shows that very little progress has been made over the past year to increase levels of broadband and mobile access in rural areas despite government promises to level up the country.

“This lack of digital connectivity puts a huge drain on time and efficiency as we’re effectively working with one arm tied behind our backs.”

The survey also found that 83% of respondents are unable to get reliable mobile signal in all outdoor locations on their farm and only 44% said their phone signal is sufficient for the needs of their business.

In a move that it says moves it a step closer to delivering better mobile coverage in rural areas, the UK government has published its transparency notice for its Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme, and will now proceed with a £500m investment designed to provide all corners of the UK with better mobile connectivity.

The £1.3bn SRN programme was first proposed in October 2019, aiming to wipe so-called “not spots” from the map, providing what the government claims will be “high-quality” 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by 2025. This followed years of complaints by mobile consumers and businesses that the major political parties had consistently failed rural businesses by lacking a credible solution to improve mobile 4G and 5G coverage.

In practice, the SRN will be made possible through a partnership between the UK’s four major telecoms operators – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone – which will invest in a network of new and existing phone masts they will all share, overseen by a jointly owned company called Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited

Small towns and rural areas across the UK will be hardest hit by delays of up to three years in the rollout of 5G mobile technology, experts have said after ministers announced that Huawei will be stripped from networks by 2027.

The total cost to the economy could exceed £7bn, according to research analysing the potential cost of eliminating the Chinese equipment supplier in response to US sanctions and pressure from about 60 rebel Tory MPs.

The Huawei dispute is only one part of a wider UK-China struggle

Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, announced a U-turn on the role of Huawei in 5G networks on Tuesday, earning criticism from China and praise from the US, who said the company poses a threat to national security.

China’s ambassador to the UK branded the decision “disappointing and wrong”. Liu Xiaoming tweeted: “It has become questionable whether the UK can provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from other countries.”

UK mobile operators are close to agreeing a deal to share mobile masts in rural areas, with O2, Vodafone and 3 UK set to build and share their own masts, leaving BT to pursue its own plans, reports The Telegraph.

According to unnamed sources, the plans could be announced as early as the week of 24 February, although this timetable could be delayed as the contracts are finalised. The move by BT rivals to go it alone comes after the company wanted to charge rent for access to its masts, rather than build new shared sites. The proposed fees are understood to be more than 3-times standard industry rates, with BT insisting that the charges are ‘fair and reasonable’ when taking into account its investment.

Once source told The Telegraph that it made no sense for the other mobile operators to spend more sharing the BT network than it would cost to build and share their own masts. The operators declined to comment on the report. 

Even though the Conservative Party and Labour Party have published manifesto pledges to expand broadband coverage to rural areas, and the Liberal Democrats have pledged to invest in mobile data infrastructure and expand it to cover all homes, rural diversification consultancy Rural Solutions, an advisory business for UK landowners and land-based businesses, said any future UK government will not be able to fix what it calls “appalling” levels of mobile connectivity in rural areas without a more radical policy for siting communications masts.

The criticism comes even after the government in October set out its plans to make radical improvements to mobile phone coverage across the country. Working in conjunction with the four leading UK operators, the £1.3bn scheme, 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 country by 2025.

But speaking just before the launch of the Conservative manifesto, which also promises to provide greater mobile coverage across the UK, Joanne Halton, head of planning at Rural Solutions, said rural areas were still blighted by poor connectivity in many places, with designated zones for siting network masts being the missing solution.

She dismissed what the major parties were offering, emphasising that none of their plans and pledges would successfully address the problem of “appalling” mobile 4G and 5G coverage in rural areas.

At the heart of the issue was a lack of regard for planning applications, said Halton. “We won’t get the connectivity levels that political parties say they aspire to achieve without a further relaxation of planning regulations,” she said. “If any government is serious about rural connectivity, it needs to urgently modify its regulation of mast locations and heights in designated scenic and historic areas, which encompass much of rural Britain. 

Rural inhabitants risk becoming “second-class” citizens in the digital revolution as urban dwellers benefit from next-generation broadband and 5G mobile, MPs have said.

The report by the Commons environment, food and rural affairs select committee said that the government has failed to grasp the extent of the digital divide in the provision of broadband and mobile services.

Almost 600,000 “forgotten homes” in rural areas across the UK are still unable to get sufficiently fast broadband to meet a typical family’s needs – from watching Netflix to browsing YouTube.

In England and Wales 6.6% of premises do not receive the 10Mbps internet service the government has mandated as the bare minimum to cover a family’s modern digital needs, compared with just 0.7% in cities and towns. In Scotland, 19% of homes in rural areas don’t get decent internet while in Northern Ireland the figure stands at about 15%.

 “Digital connectivity is now regarded by many as an essential utility, with many in rural areas struggling to live a modern lifestyle without it,” said Neil Parish, the chairman of the committee. “Poor broadband and mobile data services continue to marginalise rural communities, particularly those in hard to reach areas.”

The report said that the government’s target of a 10Mbps internet service as a bare minimum to cover modern digital needs lets down rural families as new technologies and demand for internet services makes such a speed inadequate and obsolete.

Bigger and taller mobile phone masts could be built without councils’ permission across the countryside, under a proposed overhaul of planning rules in England.

It is part of government plans to speed up the roll out of 5G networks and improve mobile coverage in rural areas.

Currently masts on public land must be no more than 25m (82ft) high but ministers want to relax these rules.

Labour says “bolder” plans are needed to boost the UK digital infrastructure.

5G, which uses higher frequency waves than earlier mobile networks, would allow more devices to have access to the internet at the same time and at faster speeds.

However, 5G networks require more transmitter masts than previous technologies.

Digital Secretary Nicky Morgan, who has launched a consultation on the plans, said “slightly taller” masts would mean they could carry more equipment and “potentially stop the proliferation of other masts – or even take away some”.

Asked if new masts could double in height, she said “Let’s ask the question and see what it is people need.”

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there has to be a balance struck between the landscape and better connectivity.