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Mobile users in the UK had the least reliable experience on average of any G7 country in 2024, according to data that highlights the impact of poor performance on consumers.
Britain scored 859 points on a scale for mobile reliability experience between July 1 and September 28 in a study by research company Opensignal, with Italy on 861 and Japan in first place on 925.
The UK has lagged peer countries on high-speed fifth-generation mobile phone networks in part because of disruption caused by the government’s ban on equipment from Chinese company Huawei.
Experts have also blamed the lack of reliability on low investment and delays in planning permission for telecoms towers.
Britain ranked last among members of the G7 group of advanced economies for mobile reliability experience on a 100-1,000 points scale. It measured the ability of mobile users tracked by Opensignal to connect and successfully complete basic tasks on mobile networks and covered all mobile network generations from 2G through to 5G.
Kester Mann, director of consumer and connectivity at research group CCS Insight, said the UK’s poor performance reflected “a lack of industry investment, the swap out of Huawei infrastructure, perennial planning issues and surging demand”.
Sam Fenwick, principal analyst at Opensignal, pointed to similar reasons for the UK’s ranking, including a lack of investment in mobile networks and programmes to replace Huawei kit diverting “some of operators’ focus and capital expenditure away from network rollouts”.
He also cited the difficulty of obtaining planning permission for masts, which had been “made worse by nimbyism and a lack of public awareness of what modern mobile infrastructure looks like”.
Among the UK’s regions, users in Yorkshire and Humber had the most reliable mobile experience on average between July 1 and September 28 while users in Wales suffered the worst.
Fenwick said the findings had implications for digital inclusion, noting it was “important that poorer areas of the UK are not left behind”.
Trade association Mobile UK said mobile network operators were committed to delivering modern 5G networks and investing billions of pounds each year.
“Decisive action from the government, such as streamlining the planning process, prioritising national infrastructure goals, ensuring spectrum is more affordable and creating a supportive regulatory environment” would maximise the impact of investment and help underpin the country’s digital future, it added.
As part of the approved merger between Vodafone’s domestic operations and CK Hutchison’s Three UK, the companies’ £11bn network upgrade commitment will be overseen by the UK communications regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority, the antitrust watchdog.
Mobile users in Britain were also hit by the slowest average 5G download speeds of any G7 country in 2023, according to research.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said: “Access to fast and reliable mobile and broadband coverage is critical to deliver the change our country needs to thrive.”
Ministers were on “a mission to deliver full gigabit and standalone 5G coverage to all populated areas of the UK by 2030 by removing planning barriers in a way that is considerate of local communities and ensuring our networks are safe from foreign interference by hostile actors”, it added.
