Government under pressure to force extension of mobile coverage

A universal service obligation would ensure that those living in rural areas get adequate coverage

The Commission for Rural Communities has called on the government to introduce a universal service obligation on mobile operators to ensure those living in rural areas get adequate coverage.

In a report on rural mobile phone coverage, the CRC notes that the patchiness of the UK's mobile network coverage threatens jobs and communities in rural areas. The report states that home workers and the self-employed are vital to rural economies, but poor mobile reception in rural areas frequently hamstrings those workers.

The CRC also says that poor mobile reception will make it harder for local councils to introduce cost saving measures. During the consultation process ahead of its report, Tim Anderson, e-service officer at Norfolk County Council, told the CRC that the lack of 3G coverage in his area meant "the mobile library service has to use a separate library catalogue and cannot connect with the main library catalogue, causing expense and duplication".

The calls are not likely to be welcomed by mobile operators who are mindful of the costs.

Furthermore, getting agreement on what 'universal' would mean in practice is likely to prove difficult, said Rob Bamforth, principal analyst with Quocirca.

"Is it people when they are at locations like home, work, school etc, or does it include where they are travelling through in between? The problem is that mobile applications are becoming more useful in more locations, so the needs for coverage have grown," he added.

The problem will be exacerbated as operators move from 2G and 3G to 4G services, he said. "These higher speed connections have shorter ranges, so even more cell towers are required to get the same coverage.

UK communications regulator Ofcom is currently looking at what can be done about so-called "not-spots", where there is no mobile reception.

Earlier this year, the European Union also launched a consultation process on the issue of universal mobile service provision. Currently, the EU stipulates that all of its citizens should be able to have a phone line into their home or find a payphone in public places when they need to.

The CRC argues that with more emergency calls now being made from mobiles than landlines, they have become essential to daily life. It urged network operators to work with local councils and communities to identify economically viable means of extending coverage.

"So will we get completely universal coverage?" asked Bamforth. "I think it's about as likely as universal 100MB broadband. Neither will happen without some ‘relief' from government or the regulator and that relief includes financial carrots as well as the traditionally used regulatory sticks."