To deliver the growth we need politicians agree Britain must lead on new technologies and spread opportunity around the round the country.
What government actually does to deliver against both objectives though is complicated and often hard to for it to articulate, particularly in a political case.
Digital connectivity, particularly on the move, has massively expanded over recent decades and putting standalone 5G, the fastest commercially available, in every citizens and businesses hands will have massive economic benefits both in terms of Britain’s ability to adopt the incoming A.I led technological revolution, and making markets and services more accessible for all regions of the country.
This paper from Progress in partnership with Cellnex analyses targets we are currently using to let us really know if we have connectivity we can actually use now, or in the future.
We find that current targets focus on whether it is possible to receive a signal, not what can be done with that signal.
We argue that connectivity is a resource, one which will only grow in economic and social value. We ask government to apply a serious resource mindset to mobile connectivity, one focused around abundance for the benefit of businesses and consumers is needed.
To enable this, we recommend changes to the way mobile connectivity is reported that could be delivered by government and OFCOM now, to set Britain up for tomorrow
