RURAL parts of Scotland will continue to suffer from patchy internet coverage despite the UK's four largest mobile networks agreeing a £1 billion deal to 'end poor rural mobile coverage'.
The Shared Rural Network (SRN) will see EE, O2, Three and Vodafone work together to bring 4G coverage to 95 per cent of the UK by the end of 2025. But it has emerged in Scotland, 25% will still not get coverage and will remain the biggest mobile reception losers.
In August, research revealed that over a quarter of a million people living in rural parts of Scotland were receiving the worst mobile reception service in Britain due to poor signal coverage.
It prompted calls for the government to come up with an urgent plan of action on how it expects to fulfil a 2017 pledge to expand coverage to 95% of the country by 2022.
The deal is set to bring guaranteed coverage to 280,000 premises and 9,942 miles (16,000km) of roads, with the biggest beneficiaries set to be Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
READ MORE: Over 250,000 Scots suffer 'worst' mobile reception in UK
The UK Government in announcing the "world-first deal" said it would "make poor and patchy rural phone coverage "a thing of the past".
But beneath the spin, the details indicate that it will not actually bring poor rural mobile coverage to a complete end.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport coverage says that in Scotland, "where there are unique geographical and landscape challenges and sparsely populated areas" coverage will rise by more than ten per cent to 91 per cent from at least one operator and to 74 per cent from all four operators.
"This compares to 80 per cent and 42 per cent today," the department say.
The consumer organisation Which? said more clarity was needed from the government.
Caroline Normand, Which? director of advocacy said: “Substandard 4G and broadband continues to be a huge problem for many people around the country, shutting them out of important online services and frustrating their daily lives, so it is good to see the government keeping its promise on this much-needed investment. “When it comes to 4G, the government and industry must urgently clarify plans and how the right level of geographic coverage will be delivered if it is to match what people actually need.”
The consumer organisation last year found huge areas of rural Scotland were home to the UK's biggest 4G blackspots for Britain's four major operators, EE, Three, O2 and Vodaphone.
A full analysis of the 650 parliamentary constituencies in the UK seen by the Herald showed that the five areas at biggest risk of mobile signal blackouts due to patchy coverage were all in Scotland.
According to the government, other benefits to the new dealwill include better coverage on 27,962 miles (45,000km) of roads and indoor signals for around 1.2 million businesses and homes.
Currently, around nine per cent of the UK's landmass does not have decent 4G outdoor mobile coverage from any operator, according to industry regulator Ofcom.
"For too many people in the countryside a bad phone signal is a daily frustration," said digital secretary Oliver Dowden.
"So today we're delivering on the Prime Minister's 100-day promise to get a £1 billion landmark deal signed with industry to end poor and patchy mobile rural coverage.
"This is an important milestone to level up the country, improve people's lives and increase prosperity across the length and breadth of our United Kingdom." The networks will each invest £532 million as part of the deal, with the aim of closing almost all partial not spots – areas where there is currently coverage from some but not all of the network operators.
The scheme will lead to increases in coverage in some areas by more than a third, the government said, with the biggest improvements in rural parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales that only have partial 4G coverage or none at all.
"We welcome this agreement, which will make a real difference to all mobile customers right across the UK," said a spokesman for industry regulator Ofcom.
"We are making the coverage commitments legally binding by including them in operators' licences.
"We'll also monitor and report on companies' progress in bringing better coverage to people and businesses."
According to August's analysis, Ross, Skye and Lochaber had poorest mobile reception in the UK with just 13.77% of the district getting coverage from all four major operators, EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone.
The bottom five UK areas are also made up of Argyll and Bute (14.75%), the Western Isles (19.19%), Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (27.11%) and Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (31.38%).
Just three constituencies in Scotland had complete 4G coverage from all four operators - Aberdeen North, Glasgow North West and Glasgow South West. In England nearly one in four (23%) of constituencies had 4G coverage from all four operators. In Scotland it is just one in 20 (5%).
Ofcom revealed in its Connected Nations 2019 report that just 66 per cent of the UK has 4G coverage from all four operators.
It estimates that 53,000 premises cannot access either a decent fixed broadband service or get good 4G coverage indoors from any operator.
According to the government in England, coverage will improve from 81 per cent to 90 per cent across the four operators, in Northern Ireland it will rise from 75% to 85% and in Wales it will go up from 58% to 80%.
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