How network planning could provide a £2.58 billion boost

The UK has lagged behind the rest of Europe on connectivity for far too long, ranking 24th out of 30 for 5G availability according to Ookla data. It’s a situation that is having the effect of a handbrake on the UK economy, at a time when the nation is in urgent need of the accelerator. There is a way to finally get the UK back into gear, says Andrea Donà, VodafoneThree’s Chief Network Officer.

VodafoneThree’s £11bn investment has the potential to boost the UK economy, creating up to 13,000 domestic jobs in the process. It’s a plan that will reach 99% 5G Standalone (SA) population coverage by 2030, and 99.96% by 2034 – more than any other operator. A recent report commissioned by MobileUK also highlights the wider societal impact, showing how 5G SA could help the UK’s 13-19 million digitally excluded people find work, access public services and build businesses, especially in the rural communities where connectivity is weakest¹.

The UK’s planning system is delaying 5G Standalone (SA) upgrades

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99.96% of the U.K. population connected with 5G SA by 2034

thanks to

delivery of 26-28K 5G SA sites of which 96% are upgrades from existing sites

but

53% will require planning permission under current outdated rules, delaying 13,500 sites

That’s why we have made rapid progress to close the gap with Europe. Already, up to 28.6 million Vodafone and Three customers can automatically access each other’s networks, at no extra cost while experiencing higher download speeds, improved coverage and better reliability.

Though much of this early progress has been made possible without breaking new ground or installing significant new hardware, the next phase of the plan will challenge us more. This is predominantly due to the planning permission we require to get started. Despite 96% of our planned sites involve upgrading existing infrastructure rather than building new masts, more than half will require planning permission under current rules.

The cost of planning processes can be significant. They can place added pressure on local council resources, slow businesses’ access to new technology and may delay improved connectivity for rural communities. Analysis by WPI Economics estimates that network planning delays could represent a £2.58bn missed opportunity for the UK economy by 2035.

The only way to help deliver better connectivity is to work together to modernise a planning system for the era of 5G connectivity. After all, 5G is a very different technology to 4G and, despite physical hardware moving on vastly since the last generation making it more energy efficient, compact and less visually obtrusive, we are still being asked to work with outdated planning rules.

The height and width of 5G masts are bigger than 4G, requiring us to apply for full planning permission or a General Permitted Development Order (GPDO) for relatively unobtrusive upgrades to existing sites. The challenge is that even relatively modest changes to existing sites still require full planning approval, which slows down progress despite actually reducing our overall footprint in the UK by 30% over the course of our investment.

This hardware is the only way to ensure better connectivity – something that everybody in the UK wants. The same MobileUK report found that there were 14.9 masts in Manchester per 10,000 people and 6.6 in London per 10,000. For a city as building-dense as London, this deficit could be quickly reduced by non-invasive rooftop sites. But only if planning rules are amended to allow for routine upgrades to happen without lengthy planning processes.

While we welcome the recent consultations on both Permitted Development Rights for telecoms and the National Planning Policy Framework, we need to recognise that, as a nation, we remain behind our peers. Just look to similarly sized markets in Europe: Germany plans to treat network deployment as being in the “overriding public interest” until at least 2030, fast tracking planning approvals for network upgrades. In Sweden, meanwhile, rooftop installations are exempt from planning permits entirely, providing they don’t significantly change the appearance of the building.

To make similar progress here in the UK, the PDR proposals must be implemented in full, so that straightforward upgrades are taken out of the planning system altogether. Then we must strengthen the National Planning Policy Framework, to ensure upgrades that do require approval take into account the vital role advanced connectivity plays in driving economic growth.

Of course we understand that some communities feel strongly about how masts may look in their local areas. Thankfully, however, these changes wouldn’t affect infrastructure at street level – they would, in fact, aid the deployment of rooftop developments that are much less intrusive or noticeable to the general public.

With the right targeted changes to the planning system, we can release the handbrake on UK connectivity, reduce the planning burden on local government, and support digital inclusion. A planning system built to enable 5G upgrades could unlock £2.58bn for the UK economy by 2035 in England alone.

We’re working hard to provide next-generation services for our customers and deliver the UK’s best network. But we need the same kind of forward-thinking proposals as Germany and Sweden if we are to upgrade UK infrastructure at the pace the country needs to drive economic growth through connectivity. To not just take part in the global 5G race, but to lead it.

* VodafoneThree’s £11bn investment will boost UK economic output (GVA) by as much as £102.75bn between 2025-2035. Over the entire eight-year build period, and create and sustain demand for, on average, 9,000 jobs, with peak investment years (years 2-6) seeing as many as 13,000 jobs created across the UK. 74% will be outside London and the South East – WPI Strategy.

1. Small Change, Big Rewards: 69b80f957b0b06441977b080_Small-Changes-Big-Rewards.pdf