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The Building Mobile Britain campaign will make key recommendations to the government on providing world class mobile connectivity in the UK
The UK government must work closely with the telecoms industry’s key players to ensure that favourable market conditions allow the country to deliver world class mobile connectivity, according to a new report published today.
Mobile UK’s Building Mobile Britain initiative outlines closer collaboration between government and industry as a key area of focus as the UK readies itself for 5G rollout in 2019.
Speaking at the Building Mobile Britain launch event at the House of Commons in Westminster on Wednesday, Gareth Elliott, head of policy and communications at Mobile UK said that the government must focus on creating the right conditions for investment in Britain’s mobile infrastructure.
"The critical question is to meet this challenge does the UK have the right environment to achieve the Government’s ambition to be a leading digital economy with world-class mobile connectivity? The answer to this question is no, not at the moment,” he said.
The report predicts that the average British smartphone user will consume 90Gb of data every month by 2025. More importantly, it suggests that the UK’s leadership in 5G rollout could result in the opportunity to create £173 billion of incremental UK GDP growth by 2030.
The report makes three key recommendations, which it says will help the UK establish a leading position in Europe for 5G.
Adopt a proactive attitude
Local government must adopt a proactive attitude by showing leadership and political will, creating local government ‘digital champions’, providing training to safeguard skills and knowledge, and lobbying to remove the key barriers to mobile infrastructure deployment.
Plan for the long term
Local and national government initiatives must plan for the long term, by learning lessons from the rollout of broadband, utilising economic development funds and embedding mobile connectivity in plans for local economic development.
Building partnerships and sharing best practice
The keystone upon which these initiatives must be built is collaboration and the sharing of best practice. This can include building internal links to bust barriers at a local level, as well as establishing best practice precedents for new build projects.
