Mobile UK has both submitted written and oral evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Business and the Rural Powerhouse for its inquiry into rural productivity.

The global pandemic has seen a dramatic shift in work patterns and new uses of digital connectivity which present new opportunities for productivity in the rural economy. The mobile industry is itself investing heavily in rural 4G coverage in conjunction with the UK Government to extend 4G mobile coverage to 95% of the UK’s landmass by at least one operator, and by all four operators to 84%.

Mobile UK, in its evidence to the APPG, outlined:

• Support for the Government’s plans for regulatory reformof permitted development rights for telecoms and the Electronic Communications Code. These are both important interventions to encourage investment in the UK, which is a very challenging territory.
• Support for reform to the Apprenticeship Levy so that mobile operators and others are able train and upskill teams to work with new digital technologies (this applies to both rural and urban areas).
• Equivalent business rates holidays for mobile infrastructure as are available for fixed full fibre.