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Consultancy firm Cluttons and polling company YouGov have published the results from a new survey of 2,055 UK people and 108 MPs, which among other things found that 27% of consumers are frustrated with their home broadband (Wi-Fi) connection every week and 42% have difficulty accessing 4G or 5G mobile outside half the time or more.
At present around 90% of UK premises have access to a gigabit-capable broadband line (rising to 98% for 30Mbps+ speeds – here), while Ofcom reports that 4G mobile coverage (geographic) reaches a range of 89-93% across different operators, which falls to 73% when only looking at 5G coverage from one operator (here). Suffice to say that most people should be able to access a reasonable mobile or broadband connection, but gaps do remain.
The new report from Cluttons examines the situation from the perspective of consumer and MP experiences, which highlights how real experiences often differ from that of actual network availability. On the other hand, we do have to take the results from any opinion-based survey with a pinch of salt, particularly given the small sample sizes involved, as they may not always be a reliable reflection of reality (e.g. sometimes issues are caused by other factors, such as your hardware, rather than the network provider).
Overall, the report states that digital connectivity is now as “fundamental a utility as water, electricity and gas“, albeit one that is still “not treated as equally important“. The UK is thus said to be “failing to deliver” the reliable, high-quality connections that the economy and the public depend on to run successful businesses and lead full lives.
The human cost of this “underperformance” is said to be highlighted in the figures, some of which we’ve summarised below. All of this is despite 88% of 103 MPs surveyed in March by YouGov for Cluttons saying they agree that digital connectivity will be important in underpinning UK economic growth over the next two years.
Summary of Key Survey Findings
Consumers – Mobile
➤ 30% of consumers say they are frustrated with their 4G or 5G connection once a week.
➤ 42% of respondents said they have difficulties accessing 4G or 5G half the time (50%) or more when they are out and about, while 13% said it was problematic 75% of the time or more.
➤ When focusing on connections at home, a quarter of respondents said that accessing 4G or 5G was an issue at least 50% of the time.
➤ 46% agree (UK average) that new or upgraded digital infrastructure is needed locally to improve mobile coverage and capacity where they live.
➤ When asked if they would support a new mobile mast within 500 metres of their home if it improved mobile coverage and network capacity, 43% of respondents said they would support it (rising to 51% of 18-24 year olds).
Consumers – Broadband
➤ 26% of home respondents said they never felt frustrated (i.e. with slow or unreliable connection) with their WiFi, while 29% said they felt frustration less than once a month.
➤ 27% of respondents saying they felt frustration because of slow or unreliable connections once a week or more.
MPs
➤ 55% of MPs reported that local residents contacted them about slow or variable broadband connections once a month or more frequently.
➤ Only 9% of MPs said that digital connectivity had never been raised with them by people living in their constituency.
➤ 21% of MPs are contacted at least once a week by residents struggling with slow or variable broadband.
➤ 16% of MPs said that constituents talked to them about areas with no mobile phone coverage once a week or more, while 17% said they were having discussions about difficulty accessing 4G/5G connections at a similar frequency.
➤ 36% of MPs said that they heard details of challenges around people working from home or running a business due to poor connectivity once a month or more.
Trains
➤ 60% of respondents to their consumer survey who commute by train said they have a stable internet connection half the time or less on their journey. Only 5% said that they always had a reliable connection, rising to 7% for London and falling to 2% in the Midlands.
➤ 40% (38%) of respondents said they were more likely to work more during the journey if there was a more stable connection, rising to 45% for those aged between 18 and 24.
In addition, the report claims that improving digital connectivity on the UK’s train network could boost productivity by nearly £3 billion by 2035, according to new data. But it’s always wise to take any such economic claims with a sizeable pinch of salt.
Gráinne Gilmore, Head of Research at Cluttons, said:
“Connectivity is no longer optional infrastructure. Our data shows that millions of people across the UK are experiencing real, regular disruption to their work and personal lives because the infrastructure to support the connectivity requires upgrading, replacing or increasing.
The Government has good targets for standalone 5G which will improve capacity and reliability, but this technology requires additional infrastructure. Those parts of the UK that fall behind will be at a disadvantage. Every single Mayoral Combined Authority we interviewed said that good connectivity was essential for economic growth in their area, and MPs agree.”
Helen Morgan MP, Chair of the Digital Communities APPG, said:
“Digital connectivity is fundamental to the UK’s economic growth, acting as the backbone of a modern, productive economy. Reliable mobile and broadband services underpin business operations, enable remote working, and support innovation across sectors from healthcare to agriculture.
Poor connectivity directly constrains productivity, limits access to services and weakens competitiveness. This is particularly serious in rural areas where businesses report lost income, operational delays, and reduced efficiency. The roll-out of digital infrastructure is therefore critical. Investment in full fibre and mobile networks is not just about faster speeds but enabling wider economic transformation.”
Overall the report doesn’t say anything that’s terribly new or surprising, but it’s worth remembering that work is constantly ongoing to upgrade the country’s digital infrastructure. For example, the £5bn Project Gigabit scheme aims to help extend gigabit broadband (1Gbps+) networks to “nationwide” coverage (c.99% of UK premises) by 2032 and Ofcom are forecasting this could reach up to 95% by January 2029 (here).
Similarly, the government’s ambition on mobile connectivity is to go further and to have high quality, standalone 5G (5G+) in “all populated areas” of the UK by 2030, although we’d much rather they set a credible geographic coverage target for this than using the old ‘population metric’.
Lest we forget about the 10 Year Industrial Strategy, which also pledged a total of £41m to help introduce Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband satellite connectivity “on all mainline trains” in order to tackle the issue of poor onboard connectivity. Not to mention Project Reach, which reflects a public-private partnership that will deploy “ultra fast fibre optic cable” across 1,000 kilometres of major rail lines to help “eliminate mobile signal blackspots” in tunnels on “key rail routes” up and down the country (this could potentially be expanded to 5,000km in the future).
Suffice to say there’s a lot of work ongoing, although ensuring this is all delivered on time is another matter. Concerns have already been expressed over a potential funding shortfall in the Project Gigabit scheme (here), which has recently suffered a string of setbacks (e.g. contracted suppliers dropping out or scaling-back their deployment plans), often due to wider strains within the alternative network market (e.g. rising build costs, competition and high interest rates).