Britain has “too many digital deserts and partial not spots”, a government-appointed commission has found, with the country 54th in the world for 4G.
With coverage of just 53% – the amount of time the average user has access to 4G – the UK network is worse than Romania and Albania, Panama and Peru, according to the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) report.
The NIC said the market was failing consumers, and it urged ministers to stop Britain falling further behind as the mobile industry moves on to super-fast 5G technology – the fifth generation of mobile internet networks.
Former Labour Cabinet minister Lord Adonis, who led the review, said that although Britain was “languishing in the digital slow lane”, the roll-out of 5G technology was an opportunity for the Government to “start again and get ahead”.
He noted that “the typical user can access 4G barely half the time.”
He added: “Our roads and railways can feel like digital deserts and even our city centres are plagued by not spots where connectivity is impossible.
“That isn’t just frustrating, it is increasingly holding British business back as more and more of our economy requires a connected workforce.”
The NIC report recommended that the UK government and Ofcom should develop a “meaningful set of metrics that represent the coverage people actually receive and use these to determine a mobile universal service obligation so that consumers can access essential services where they are needed.”
It added that this should be delivered “as a soon as is practical but no later than 2025.”