Westminster Hall Debate – Implementation of the Shared Rural Network

• Councils want to go further to tackle regional inequalities in broadband infrastructure and accelerate the roll out in hard-to-reach communities. With the right funding and opportunities for collaboration with government, councils could play a far greater role targeting communities most in need. 
• Councils are best placed to understand the digital needs of their areas and ensure that local policy, such as planning and highways regulation, is streamlined to help improve connectivity. It is vital that mobile network operators and the Government work with councils to deliver their ambitious programme.
• Councils also want to work with Ofcom to ensure mobile coverage is accurate, up-to-date and reflects consumer experience. Without an accurate picture of outdoor mobile coverage on the ground, the Government and Ofcom will be unable to hold mobile network operators to account to meet this pledge.
• We are concerned that councils in rural communities continue to lag more densely populated areas in the roll-out of 5G and wider improvements to mobile digital connectivity. We look forward to working with the Government to ensure universal access to high-quality digital infrastructure.
• Councils play a leading role in tackling digital exclusion and enabling people to fully participate in an increasingly digital society. Multiple council functions such as children’s services, adult social care, adult education, business support and libraries all have contact with people who may be digitally excluded.
• The Government should fully fund a digital champion in every local authority. Local authority digital champions act as a central point of contact, helping to extend gigabit-capable broadband.

We live in an increasingly digital world, with banking, democratic functions, job applications, benefits and other public services increasingly being moved online. Digital skills, equipment and reliable digital connectivity are crucial to enable people to fully participate in society and engage in 21st century education and employment systems.

According to recent LGA research there has been important progress in closing the digital divide in the coverage of superfast and ‘decent’ fixed broadband. However, a new digital divide has emerged in gigabit and full fibre coverage. The top 10% of district/unitary local authority areas enjoy full fibre coverage of over 60%, while the bottom 10% have less than 10% of premises able to access these services.

Councils continue to play a leading role in digital connectivity, and this has built up a pool of internal expertise that has helped facilitate both roll-out and take-up. However, with the centralised management of Project Gigabit within Building Digital UK (BDUK), there is a risk this local expertise could be lost. Given the right funding and opportunity to work in partnership with government, councils could play an enhanced role targeting left behind communities, driving demand stimulation and providing digital upskilling.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT) Wireless Infrastructure Strategy recognises the value of local government digital champions. The strategy identifies the role as integral to the development and implementation of a local Digital Infrastructure Strategy and says digital champions promote the social and economic benefits of improved connectivity to residents and businesses in their role.

The LGA welcomed the Government’s commitment to provide £180 million over the next three years as part of a £500 million investment for the shared rural network, to deliver high-quality 4G mobile coverage to 95 per cent of the UK. It is important in striving to become a world leader in 5G coverage the Government does not lose sight of ensuring the Shared Rural Network delivers high quality 4G coverage for rural communities.

Whilst initiatives like the Shared Rural Network place front and centre commitments to increase coverage across the country, a look at the fine print shows much more limited ambitions. Ofcom’s recent 700Mhz spectrum auction outlined the regulator views ‘good quality” 4G coverage as “single-user download speed of 2 Mbps with a better than 90% probability.’ Its recently published Shared Rural Network coverage methodology sets required coverage at a minimum of -105dbm of signal strength. This would register as a single bar of coverage on an iPhone 7 plus, something which is already out of step with consumer expectation today, let alone in five years’ time.

The deal is a positive step towards securing improved coverage for local communities, but more clarity is needed from Ofcom and Government on how it will be implemented and monitored. It is vital that mobile network operators and the Government work with local authorities to deliver this programme to ensure this investment translates into real world improvements in signal quality and data capacity for communities and businesses.

To date, we have found that there is often a disconnect between the level of coverage mobile network operators claim to provide and the real-life experience of their residents. Many councils are reporting increases in dropped calls and outages, especially in rural areas. We are also hearing from councils that the ongoing cost of data and higher levels of unreliability severely reduce the viability of ‘stop gap’ interim solutions. It is also evident 4G solutions may not always be effective in rural areas due to lack of coverage, which further reduces options available to communities.

There are vast regional disparities in broadband infrastructure. Seventeen per cent of rural residential premises and 30 per cent of rural commercial premises still do not have access to superfast broadband.

Analysis from the County Councils Network shows that just 21 per cent of premises in county areas have access to gigabit broadband, compared with London with 70 per cent gigabit coverage, and large towns and cities in the North and the West Midlands with an average of 51 per cent coverage. A substantial gap also remains between rural (47%) and urban areas (79%) in terms of gigabit coverage.

We are also concerned that councils in rural communities continue to lag more densely populated areas in the roll-out of 5G and wider improvements to mobile digital connectivity. We look forward to working with the Government to strengthen investment and innovation to ensure universal access to high-quality digital infrastructure.

The LGA’s recent report, Rural recognition, recovery, resilience and revitalisation, explores the economic challenges facing rural and coastal areas, with a particular focus on deprivation, and outlines what steps government can take to strengthen the recovery and resilience of these communities within the current context.

With the shift to home and hybrid working, residents in these areas face a particular disadvantage in the labour market. Similarly, businesses who are unable to pivot their working models due to poor connectivity may be at risk. To truly level up communities across the country, Government must commit to continued transparency on contingency measures for those residents who are in deeply rural and hard-to-reach areas.

Councils play an important role tackling digital exclusion, running initiatives to tackle digital exclusion such as digital skills improvement support and refurbish old equipment for donation or lending to residents who lack appropriate devices. Indeed, council functions such as children’s services, adult social care, adult education, business support and libraries all have contact with people who may be digitally excluded. Councils also have well established relationships with local the Voluntary and Community Sector organisations who are an effective channel to socially excluded groups.

Fixed broadband penetration is 15 percentage points lower in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived. However, the more deprived areas of England tend to use their broadband lines more heavily. Average monthly data usage is 46 per cent higher in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived areas. Fixed broadband penetration is positively correlated with economic activity and educational attainment. Each 10-percentage point increase in fixed broadband penetration is associated with a 4-percentage point increase in the economic activity rate and about 3 points in the average Attainment 8 score at Key Stage 4.

The recent House of Lords Digital Committee report on digital exclusion found the Government does not have a ‘credible strategy’ on tackling digital exclusion and reinforces LGA findings that there is little strategic guidance to councils from Government on closing the digital divide. Councils know their communities best and have the responsibilities, relationships, and assets to play a key role in encouraging older, vulnerable, and disadvantaged households to get online.

We welcome the Government’s response to the report, in particular the commitment to establish a cross-Whitehall ministerial group, and reference to the LGA’s digital inclusion network. However, the response does not go far enough to address the Committee report recommendations and does little to include local government at the heart of tackling digital inclusion.

Archie Ratcliffe, Public Affairs and Campaigns Advisor

Email: [email protected]