News & media Deep dive: Britain’s Digital Network and its Spluttering Connectivity
By James MacLeod
It’s inevitable. As the latest Netflix mega-hit (or other streaming service of your choice) reaches its climactic finale, or you hit send on that critical email before leaving work, the Wi-Fi drops. Or perhaps even more frustrating, the sudden switch from the crystal-clear voice of a family member to garbled mumbling.
While these events may be innocuous in and of themselves, for many living in the UK, they are all too frequent and rarely isolated incidents. Poor connections, inconsistent coverage, and slow speeds are symptoms of chronic issues plaguing the UK’s digital network (both mobile and broadband). So, it is hardly surprising that, according to a Which? 2024 customer survey, consistently poor phone signal dominated the reasons for complaints with mobile phone companies[i].
The scale of the UK’s connectivity woes has made them a mainstay of public, political, and corporate discourse. This is best exemplified by the dramatic pledges and policy ideas of 2019 to remedy the country’s mobile and broadband, which, having given way to more realistic and achievable targets, have received cross-party support and continued focus from successive governments.
Yet despite this emphasis and the UK’s supposed leadership as a digital nation, the UK ranked 19th globally in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness rankings and little in the way of actual experience, seems to have improved for users. Headline projects, such as Project Gigabit, are failing to deliver connectivity solutions despite increases in coverage. According to the Social Market Foundation, the UK’s 5G lags the global frontier and a number of peer European economies[ii]. While UK mobile users had the lowest average 5G download speeds among G7 countries, according to Opensignal.
Given the importance of digital connectivity to the UK’s economy and global competitiveness, and not to mention the nation’s sanity, the underlying issues hindering the development of the UK’s digital networks must be resolved. 5G alone is forecasted to boost the UK’s economy by £159 billion by 2035[iii].
A pervasive disconnection
It is easy to place blame on a lack of investment, historical policy decisions, or the UK’s natural and manmade landscape, all of which undoubtably contribute to the current state of the UK’s connectivity networks. Yet within these points, lurks a pervasive, and self-perpetuating theme that is impeding the effective deployment of the requisite infrastructure. A disconnect between connectivity ambition, policy aims, and business realities.
The deployment of infrastructure needed to improve the UK’s connectivity and enable the roll-out of new technologies, is ultimately conducted by businesses, e.g., MNO’s (Mobile Network Operators) for 5G and fibre operators and altnets for broadband. It may seem obvious, but it is often overlooked that these companies will only invest where they see a viable return. Particularly for large-scale, capital-intensive projects, success requires policy that aligns ambition with business realities. In other words, mechanisms that are likely to encourage businesses to deploy capital in the manner required, via stable policy decision making, long-term consistency and the correct policy incentives. Currently, policy aims and mechanisms to encourage the deployment needed seem to have forgotten this reality.
A maze rather than a roadmap
Deploying large-scale infrastructure projects is an inherently costly and complex endeavour. The Social Market Foundation estimates that over £20 billion is required to achieve high-quality 5G coverage across the UK[iv]. Yet, despite being tasked with achieving the roll-out, businesses have been inadequately supported or encouraged policy wise, to overcome these challenges. The UK is littered with overlapping, existing and or historic infrastructure creating a maze of regulations, planning issues and permits. This minefield has eroded businesses’ confidence and consequently discouraged the needed long-term investment in connectivity infrastructure. Yet, little has been done to streamline these processes.
Worse, where efforts have been made to reduce this burden, they have backfired, with amendments slow to materialise. Changes introduced by the Digital Economy Act in 2017 intended to alter how land was valued and improve access to it. However, the Act has led to an increase in disputes between landowners and those seeking to build, inhibiting the roll-out of technologies such as 5G.
In amongst the maze of obstacles, both physical and regulatory, businesses have been able to find more certainty or be able to attain cheaper capital, and inroads have been made. The incumbents Openreach and Virgin Media O2 in conjunction with altnets have laid millions of fibre lines, with efforts supported by substantial investment in the early 2020s[v]. Yet ineffective guidance from policy and decision makers has led to inefficient infrastructure roll-out. Operators deploying capital where they can maximise revenue have logically focused on areas with higher population density. This has led to heavy technology deployment in urban centres at the expense of more severely afflicted rural areas. This concentration has left large swathes of the UK in the broadband and 5G dark. While policies have been introduced, such as Project Gigabit, these have failed to sufficiently incentivise businesses to address these dark spots. With these polices and mechanisms also failing to identify areas requiring infrastructure, coverage gaps have been created as well as a lack of sufficient funding to locations in need.
The unmitigated focus on urban areas has also yielded further harm to business confidence, delaying improvements to the UK’s connectivity. As operators have fixated on building-out fibre in urban areas, it has created extensive overlapping and redundant infrastructure – essentially overbuild. Altnets that have achieved much of the expansion of fibre networks, often by taking on significant amounts of debt to fund CapEx, are undergoing a period of consolidation as businesses struggle to manage cash flows, as they are unable to sufficiently monetise the fibre that they have laid[vi].
Furthermore, this installed connectivity infrastructure hasn’t resulted in improved broadband access and connectivity for the actual user. Slow policy changes and lack of foresight have meant continued reliance on legacy technology, despite pushes to increase deployment such as copper wiring and the continuation of the fibre to the cabinet model (FTTC). While more premises have been “passed” by networks, these approaches continue to limit service speed and accessibility.
Closing the disconnection and the long-term opportunity
This disconnection is not only an issue confined to the UK’s connectivity issues but will impede future crucial areas. With data demand forecast to continue and the opportunity to capture the benefits of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and 6G, the spread and depth of these disconnections must be addressed. AI-enabled digitalisation alone is forecasted to contribute a potential £520bn to the UK economy. This economic benefit, along with that from enhanced connectivity, depends on the digital network serving users’ needs. Addressing this gap is not just a policy challenge, it is an opportunity for long-term investors to shape a network that delivers real value for users and the economy alike.
The UK has the foundations and the will to be a leading digital economy. But continues to trip over its own feet in turning that potential into performance. Resolving this will require a shift in mindset across the ecosystem. Connectivity should no longer be judged by how much infrastructure is deployed, nor by the scale of capital committed, but by whether the network reliably supports the economy it underpins.
For long-term private investors, this is not a threat but an opportunity. Capital that is engaged and outcome-focused is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between public ambition and operational reality. That means backing platforms and operators that prioritise performance, resilience and adoption over expansion alone, and being prepared to challenge strategies that rely on policy momentum rather than sustainable demand.
For investors, policymakers and operators alike, the challenge is the same: reconnect capital with desired outcomes. If that connection is made, the UK’s digital infrastructure can become a source of competitive advantage rather than continued frustration.
[i] https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/the-most-common-mobile-network-complaints-and-what-to-do-about-them-aA81X7w4KQL9
[ii] https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/growing-connections-5g-in-uk/
[iii] https://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Network-failure-two-minute-summary-Dec-2024.pdf
[iv] https://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Network-failure-Dec-2024.pdf
[v] KPMG, Home stretch for UK Fibre: Navigating the Consolidation Wave. June 2025
[vi] https://www.telecoms.com/fibre/consolidation-looms-as-uk-altnets-losses-reach-1-5-billion