A new survey of over 1,000 adults conducted by industry trade body Mobile UK, which represents mobile operators Three UK, EE (BT), O2 (Virgin Media) and Vodafone, has claimed that 51% of respondents are not bothered or would welcome a new mobile mast on their street to help improve service performance and reliability.
The How Connected Are You? (PDF) survey, which attempts to gauge both the public perceptions of mobile connectivity and attitudes towards mobile infrastructure in the UK, found that 79% of respondents view their mobile as being important, or very important, to them and 81% would find the loss of signal “problematic to their lives” (28% said they can’t live without it).
The survey also revealed that the public understanding of mobile technology is “surprisingly limited“, particularly when you consider that just 14% of people felt confident in their knowledge of mobile connectivity, with 42% admitting to no understanding at all.
Speaking of which, when shown images of common network infrastructure, 45% couldn’t identify a rooftop installation and 35% failed to recognise a mobile phone mast. The confusion became more pronounced in real-world settings: 79% of people couldn’t identify a phone mast in plain sight, and 35% couldn’t recognise any mobile infrastructure at all. Misidentification was also prevalent, with 42% mistaking a TV transmitter for mobile infrastructure and 40% identifying a radio tower.
When questioned about proximity of masts, the results appear to “counter assumptions made about objections to masts“. A clear majority of people – 84%, said they feel it is important to have a mast within range of their home or business. Similarly, 92% understand that a better signal is achieved the closer you are to where it is broadcast from, and 51% said they would not be bothered or would welcome a mast on their street.
Lastly, the survey quizzed respondents who would not like a mast at the end of their road to find out the reasons why. Some 26% said they would not like it on the grounds of aesthetics (even though many had trouble identifying a mobile mast) and only 16% mentioned health concerns.
Gareth Elliott, Director of Policy and Communications for Mobile UK, said:
“What this survey has uncovered is that perceptions and attitudes towards mobile infrastructure have shifted and there is greater awareness of the need for it. These results call into question whether the planning system continues to imbalance its weighting away from the social and economic benefits of connectivity and into the hands of local minorities, of whom often base their objections on false perceptions and limited awareness.”
The results are interesting, and the full survey also covers a lot of other areas (e.g. what we do with our mobile devices), although we do still have to take all of this with a pinch of salt because the sample size was quite small and anything that comes from Mobile UK will inevitably carry a strong air of vested interest.
The study also reminds us a bit of the recent ISPA survey, which similarly found that 75% of respondents “clearly recognise the benefits of having access to faster and more reliable broadband even if that is delivered via poles” (here) – poles being an issue that both the past and present UK government have had to tackle (here). But the larger sample size of the ISPA’s study did lend it more credibility.
Finally, the survey ends by including a series of very familiar recommendations (here, here, here and here), which once again calls for more flexible planning rules and resources to help the deployment of new masts, as well as the appointment of digital champions to help local authorities engage with network operators etc. The new government are looking to reform planning policy (here and here), but the specifics remain unclear.
Recommendations
1. Understanding is crucial to connectivity
Leadership from national and a local authorities and in conjunction with the industry is needed. Better education will safeguard the future of the UK’s connected society.
2. Digital Champions
Dedicated roles are needed in every local authority area to help coordinate and prioritise digital connectivity and address digital exclusion.
According to Farrpoint 49% of local authorities do not have a digital connectivity strategy that is less than three years old. 47% of authorities have a digital champion but this is part of another role. Only 23% have invested in a dedicated role.
3. Better resourcing in planning
Increasing consumer demand, especially for data, requires mobile operators to invest continually in network coverage and capacity.
The planning regimes across the United Kingdom were set down in legislation that pre-dates the move to 5G technologies. Planning regulations and the advice that goes with them must be urgently updated to enable mobile operators to deploy their networks to meet rapidly growing demand. Without this people and businesses will not have access to wider network coverage and the latest technologies.
4. Local leadership
It’s clear while awareness of what constitutes mobile infrastructure is low, the majority of people are somewhat comfortable with new infrastructure. What they are not indifferent to is a scenario where they are unable to access the networks they rely on.
More work needs to be done in areas needing new or upgraded infrastructure to convey the facts and debunk myths. Stronger public awareness and engaging in an honest debate with citizens about the benefits and importance of this infrastructure will lead to greater support to facilitate vital infrastructure to safeguard future connectivity.