19 November 2025: Ofcom has today published its annual Connected Nations Report, highlighting the 4G coverage improvements delivered as a result of the programme:
In March 2020, the UK Government announced that it had entered into an agreement with the four
MNOs to grant funding for a Shared Rural Network (SRN). Under the terms of this agreement, each
of the four MNOs committed to provide good quality 4G data and voice coverage to 88% of the UK
landmass by 30 June 2024, and 89.2 % by 31 January 2027.
The MNOs met their 2024 obligations to deliver good geographic coverage to 88% of the UK
landmass and have continued to maintain coverage at around this level over the past year. In doing
so, the MNOs also delivered early on a UK Government aspiration for coverage from at least one
MNO to be available across 95% of the UK.
The 2027 obligation requires MNOs to roll out additional sites in “Total Not Spot” areas, and also to
deploy on “Extended Area Service” (EAS) sites that are made available to them.60, 61As of July 2025, MNOs reported EAS deployments ranging from 55 to 210 sites per MNO.62 These sites are
contributing additional coverage of roughly 0.25% to 1% of the UK landmass across MNOs.
You can read the full report on the Ofcom website.
