Government plans to cut red tape and boost mobile coverage in Cheshire

People across Cheshire are set to benefit from improved mobile coverage as part of a new scheme to cut red tape and install more 4G and 5G infrastructure.

Eight winning projects will receive a share from the £4 million Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA) to explore how digital software can help simplify local authority processes when telecoms operators request access to publicly-owned buildings and existing curbside infrastructure.

Street furniture such as road signs, street lights, bus shelters and CCTV poles can be used to improve 4G coverage, but they are also integral to the rollout of 5G, which requires a larger number of smaller ‘cell sites’—where antennas and other telecoms equipment are placed to form a network mesh—to ensure seamless coverage and to meet surging demand for connectivity.

Telecoms firms can often find it difficult and time consuming to acquire the information needed to verify a structure is suitable for hosting network equipment. Therefore the Conservative Government will invest in piloting the latest innovations in digital asset management platforms.

This software will enable local councils to share data mobile companies need to accelerate their rollout plans more easily, and deliver the revolutionary benefits of 4G and 5G to people and businesses.

The project means communities in 44 local authority areas can expect to benefit from faster—and more reliable—mobile coverage sooner, and it could mean there is a lesser need for new masts, which can often take longer to build and set up. If successful, the technology could be rolled out to local authorities across the UK.

Commenting, Eddisbury MP, Edward Timpson CBE, said:

“One of the core missions of this Government’s Levelling Up Agenda is getting everyone, in every corner of the UK, better connected and ending the digital divide.

“These plans—which will slash red tape from the 5G rollout and boost mobile phone connectivity—are another step forward in this mission, improving mobile coverage for people across Cheshire.

“I am committed to levelling up Eddisbury, and this boost for businesses and households alike takes us another step further in delivering on that goal as we build back better.”

Commenting, Digital Infrastructure Minister, Julia Lopez MP, said:

“We want to see better mobile coverage rolled out as quickly as possible, but mobile companies are finding it difficult to get the data they need to check that a lamppost, bus shelter, or public building is suitable for hosting their kit.

“These eight pilots will help solve this by modernising the way local authorities and operators work together, helping to level up access to better mobile coverage for millions of people.”

Pictured - Eddisbury MP, Edward Timpson.