The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has this morning revealed that a total of 50 government-funded rural 4G (mobile broadband) mast upgrades have now gone live across England (9 masts), Wales (28) and Scotland (13) as part of the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project. But 50 more will follow by March 2026.
The SRN – supported by £501m of public funding and £532m of private investment from operators – involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-led building and sharing of new masts in others between the operators. The target is to extend geographic 4G coverage (aggregate) to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025 (5G will also benefit from the new infrastructure).
Most of the early work on this project has typically involved private investment from the main mobile network operators, but over the past two years we’ve also seen government-funded mast upgrades and new site builds taking place in other parts of the country. A total of 50 mast upgrades have now gone live across the UK via government funding (up from 39 in late February 2025).
This phase of the work focuses on the part of the SRN that sees the government providing a total of £184m from their pot to the Home Office and mobile network operators, which is helping to upgrade Extended Area Service (EAS) masts being built as part of the 4G Emergency Services Network (ESN) – these masts previously only connected EE customers and anyone making 999 calls (i.e. all mobile operators can now use these sites).
Wales has thus far seen the biggest connectivity boost from all this work, with remote parts of the Berwyn Mountains, Brecon Beacons and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley now covered by all four UK mobile networks (O2, Vodafone, Three UK and EE). It sometimes takes more than a single mast to properly cover each area.
Since the SRN began in March 2020, over 10,000 sq km have gained 4G coverage for the first time. Almost 35,000 sq km across the UK now have coverage from all four operators, including over 3,500 sq km in Wales, which is covering roughly 20% of the country.
Telecoms Minister, Sir Chris Bryant, said:
“The growth potential of our areas of outstanding natural beauty must not be stunted by patchy internet.
This milestone is a major step forward for better connectivity for all corners of the UK meaning everyone can reap the benefits of the digital age. From boosting tourism and business opportunities to providing safer outdoors experiences for visitors to our treasured countryside.”
Ben Roome, CEO of Mova, said:
“This is a big milestone for rural mobile coverage. Thanks to strong collaboration between government and industry, 50 publicly funded masts are now live — including this one in Upper Chapel — helping to close the mobile coverage gap for residents, businesses and visitors.
These masts build on the success of the mobile operators hitting their industry-funded targets a year early. Since the Shared Rural Network began, coverage from all four operators has grown from 66% to 81% of the UK — an increase the size of Wales and Northern Ireland combined.
With further sites being upgraded and built over the next two years, more people in rural areas will benefit from better mobile coverage.”
However, today’s announcement does cause some slight confusion, not least by failing to define some of its coverage figures. For example, Mova’s quote states that UK coverage from all four operators has grown to 81%, while the PR later says that the SRN is already “delivering to 95% of UK landmass a year ahead of schedule“. But that 95% figure only reflects 4G coverage from a single operator, not all mobile operators.
Ofcom’s licence obligations actually commit each individual operator to increase their 4G coverage to 90% of the UK’s landmass by January 2027 – with these individual obligations supporting the overall target. A further 50 more government funded sites in England, Wales and Scotland are thus now being targeted for upgrades by March 2026.
The programme has so far improved 4G mobile coverage for an extra 280,000 premises and 16,000km of roads, and 100 more government funded mast activations are planned until January 2027.
