30 October 2026: 169 government-funded mast upgrades as part of the Shared Rural Network (SRN) were activated by the end of September 2026. 58 sites are now live in Wales, 62 in Scotland and 49 in England.
Recent activations during October 2026 mean that areas benefit from new coverage include parts of Devon, North Yorkshire, the Isle of Arran, Orkney, Angus, the Isle of Mull, Cumbria as well as parts of the North Yorks Moors National Park, Dartmoor National Park, and Lake District National Park.
The boost has been carried out by upgrading existing mobile masts which previously only connected EE customers and anyone making 999 calls, meaning communities can benefit from improved connectivity without the visual impact involved when building new masts.
It will enable residents, tourists and businesses to access reliable 4G coverage from all four mobile network operators – EE, Three, VMO2 and Vodafone – closing the digital divide between urban and rural communities and boosting economic growth across the nations.
Since the Shared Rural Network programme began in 2020, an additional 37,000 square kilometres – an area roughly double the size of Northern Ireland or 4.6 million football pitches – are receiving coverage from all four operators, EE, Three, VMO2 and Vodafone.
