Ofcom Releases First 3G Coverage Maps For All UK Networks
Ofcom, the UK’s independent regulator for the communication industries has finally published 3G coverage maps for the five UK mobile operators – H3G (3), Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange.
The results are enlightening and highlight many shortfalls in an industry that claims to supply 99% of the population with a 3G service. In Ofcoms’ words “The shaded areas on the maps indicate areas where customers have the possibility of making and receiving a call outside over a 3G network (but with no guarantee of being able to do so). They do not indicate areas where customers are able to access higher data rate services”
3
Orange
T-Mobile
Vodafone
02
Winners and Losers
A quick glance reveals that 3 has by far the best 3G coverage in the UK, followed by Orange. 02 is clearly the worst offender in the 3G stakes, which will surely disappoint many of their iPhone customers. T-Mobile’s coverage is pretty poor too, considering they share their masts with 3.
Most surprising is the sparse 3G spread supplied by Vodafone, who are the market leaders when it comes to 3G download speeds. They current have the fastest UK 3G network, having recently rolled out 14.4 Mbps HSDPA in some metropolitan areas.
Areas to Avoid?
It is clear that if you live in areas of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or even Norfolk, there’s a good chance that you may not have any access to 3G at all. Remote areas of the UK with hilly or mountainous terrain are understandably difficult to supply blanket coverage, but there’s no excuse for the flat lands of the East Anglia to suffer a dearth of 3G connectivity.
Femtocells To The Rescue?
One possible solution to patchy 3G coverage could be femtocells. These are small router sized devices that connect to your phone line and act like miniature mobile phone cells. However, widespread femtocell adoption will have to wait until the operators can work out a revenue model for the new technology. Stay tuned to the Mobile Broadband Blog for the latest news on femtocells...
Conclusions
Millions of consumers have jumped on the mobile broadband wagon in the last couple of years, but judging by the Ofcom maps you'd be excused for thinking that the networks are selling dongles in locations where there's actually no 3G service. In many rural areas the problem is confounded by a lack of traditional broadband services due to distant phone exchanges.
Ofcom needs to put pressure on the mobile networks to solve the problem of 3G mobile "not-spots". There's clearly not much of a commercial incentive for the networks to rollout 3G to areas with low population density. Perhaps we need to start seeing figures quoted in terms of land mass instead of population.
If the problem isn't resolved soon, we're in danger of becoming a nation of mobile broadband have and have-nots. This doesn't really tally with the government's idea of a Digital Britain.
Download the Ofcom 3G coverage maps here
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