BT (EE) has confirmed to ISPreview that they are in advanced talks over a new deal with rivals, including at least O2 (Virgin Media) and Vodafone, which will give them the ability to access some of EE’s mobile masts in remote locations . The deal could help improve 4G (mobile broadband) coverage in partial non-spot areas and tackle delays.
The deal relates to the £1 billion industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, which is supported by £501 million of government funding and £532 million of operators. The project involves both the mutual sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-driven construction and sharing of new masts in other areas between O2 (Virgin Media), Vodafone, EE and Three UK. The aim is to increase the geographical 4G coverage (total) to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025 (or 84% if you only consider the areas where you can get 4G from all providers).
REMARK: The target varies by region, so 4G coverage from at least one operator is expected to reach 98% in England, 91% in Scotland, 95% in Wales and 98% in N.Ireland. But this drops to 90% in England, 74% in Scotland, 80% in Wales and 85% in N.Ireland when looking at coverage from all MNOs combined.
The SRN includes two major objectives. The first concerns achieving industry-funded improvements in coverage Partially non-stain (PNS) areas (i.e. areas that receive coverage from at least one operator, but not all), which must be achieved by June 2024 at the latest – by which time 4G (mobile broadband) should cover 88% of the UK territory. EE was the first operator to report that it had achieved the first target for PNS areas by early 2024.
The second goal concerns Totally non-mocking (TNS) areas by early 2027. For the avoidance of doubt, Ofcom’s licensing obligations require each individual operator to increase its 4G coverage to 88% of the UK land mass by June 2024 – rising to 90% by January 2027 – with these individual obligations contributing to the overall target of 95% by December 2025.
However, both the National Audit Office (here) and the Public Accounts Committee (here) recently confirmed that Three UK, Vodafone and O2 “likely all will miss their Ofcom licensing obligation to provide 88% 4G coverage by June 2024‘ and had asked for ‘discuss an 18-month extension of the PNS element of the programme.” At this time, this has no consequences for the TNS objective.
The government has of course been pressing the three operators to catch up with EE. Ultimately, however, it will be Ofcom’s responsibility to assess whether the licensing obligations have been met and what they may want to do about it. The regulator will carry out a progress review in the summer and reach a conclusion a few months later, in early autumn.
Meaning of the New Deal
In case anyone has forgotten, BT (EE) has historically put a significant amount of commercial investment into delivering the strongest level of geographic 4G network coverage. This is partly why they were able to achieve the PNS target ahead of schedule. What’s more, they were around two years ahead of their rivals now indicating they could achieve the same target.
In early 2020, before the SRN agreement was signed, Vodafone, Three and O2 attempted to negotiate an infrastructure sharing agreement with BT for several hundred of these sites (excluding the state aid-backed ESN sites that can already be shared), but this was unsuccessful.
At the time, EE’s rivals suggested that the operator was attempting to charge 250% more than the existing commercial rate for access to the sites. The suggestion was that this would make it cheaper for Three UK, Vodafone and O2 to simply build their own masts, which is partly what they ended up doing under the final SRN agreement.
However, recent government pressure and concerns about PNS delays (Ofcom could impose fines for this, but they probably won’t) may indicate a change in approach from the above players, with talk of a mast sharing agreement now being confirmed.
A BT Group spokesperson told ISPreview:
“We are proud to have achieved our Shared Rural Network targets six months early and continue to work hard to expand EE coverage. We have been in discussions with a number of other mobile networks in recent months to share sites to support their own coverage efforts and we will continue to work with them on the next phase of the project.”
The site sharing negotiations are said to be part of the recently formed BT Group Department of Towerswhich could make it easier for them to facilitate this kind of access. But at this stage the details of any deal and how many masts it might include are unclear, although it’s fair to assume O2 and Vodafone will only look at strategic locations that get them as close – as quickly as possible – to that figure of 88% (PNS target).
Some news reports (Telegraph) claim that BT has already struck a deal, which ISPreview understands from its sources to be correct, although the operator does not yet appear to be able to formally confirm that or the details of any agreements they have discussed. But it seems like this could certainly improve 4G coverage for everyone involved, which will of course be beneficial for people living in such areas.