The government has been urged to look to successes on rural broadband in a bid to end the rural-urban digital divide on 4G.
Responding to the DCMS consultation on strategic priorities for telecoms, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) highlighted its pledge for a full-fibre broadband connection to every home by 2033.
The rural group also wants the adoption of a universal service obligation of at least 10Mbps in 2020, as key to improving rural connectivity.
CLA Deputy President Mark Bridgeman said: “Since 2002 the CLA has been campaigning for a universal pledge on digital connectivity and we’re delighted to finally see this on broadband.
“While we need to wait to see how this is met, great strides have been taken towards unlocking the potential of the rural economy,” he said.
The consultation response also highlights a disparity between the consensus on broadband and the more divided approach with mobile where there are currently two conflicting targets.
DCMS is working towards 95% geographic mobile coverage by 2022 while Ofcom has proposed 90% by 2024.
In addition, Ofcom has also recently rejected the CLA backed DCMS proposal to introduce rural roaming – where operators share bandwidth with users of all networks – as a means of increasing rural 4G coverage.
The CLA said it believes that mobile operators will only invest in rural areas if they are forced to do so, and that rural roaming is the 'common sense solution' to increasing coverage across the UK.
Mr Bridgeman added: “We need to learn the lessons from the successes with broadband where government and stakeholder consensus, as well as leadership by the regulator, achieved real wins for those who live or work in the countryside.
“There is no reason why a similar approach should not be applied to rural 4G, starting with forcing mobile operators to adopt rural roaming.”
