Real Wireless has been announced as Independent Assessor of the Shared Rural Network initiative by the Government’s Department of Digital, Media, Culture & Sport (DCMS).

In a planned 5-year engagement, Real Wireless CEO Mark Keenan takes the role of Project Director.

Real Wireless will act as the independent assessor for the TNS (Total Not Spots) aspects of the SRN rollout. TNS areas are those parts of the country where, to date, it has been considered commercially unviable for mobile operators to provide coverage.

On 9 March 2020, the UK Government announced an agreement with EE, O2, Three and Vodafone – to provide grant funding to deliver the ‘Shared Rural Network’. The Shared Rural Network programme will see government and industry jointly invest to increase 4G mobile coverage throughout the United Kingdom to 95% geographic coverage, underpinned by license obligations.

With funding now available for the TNS element of the network, both the government and the operators remain confident that combined coverage will be delivered to 95% of UK geography by the end of 2025, with areas around the UK starting to see improvements to 4G coverage long before completion. Coverage improvements will be subject to finding suitable sites, obtaining power supply and backhaul and securing the necessary permissions through the planning system. Coverage will also be subject to the availability of Extended Areas Service (EAS) sites as part of the Home Office’s Emergency Services Network (ESN).

The Shared Rural Network aims to provide coverage to 280,000 premises and 16,000km of roads, with the biggest improvements in Scotland and Wales.