"...the sector needs to boost investment by up to £25 billion to meet the Government’s ambitious goals and to meet the rising demand for data"
Rebalancing Act > Summary
A major new report looks into the challenges faced by the industry in bringing about a step change in the sector’s capacity for raising capital for significant infrastructure upgrades.
Funded almost entirely by private capital, the sector needs to boost investment by up to £25 billion to meet the Government’s ambitious goals and to meet the rising demand for data. This comes at a time when the industry faces a confluence of formidable challenges. Economic pressures, regulation, and shifting societal expectations have significantly eroded the industry’s profitability and its capacity to invest in crucial technologies.
This report sets out the mobile industry’s critical role in underpinning the UK’s economic prosperity, and how the sector is supporting vulnerable customers across the UK. It also sets out the importance of creating a more positive and balanced investment environment and why this must be a key ambition for UK policymakers. To rebalance these competing demands this report puts forward the following recommendations:
Recommendations
- At a minimum follow through on policies and actions outlined in the Wireless Infrastructure Strategy – such as reducing annual licence spectrum fees to stimulate investment, reforming traffic management regulations and driving demand in the public sector.
- Explore further policy actions designed to remove barriers to network rollout – including adequate funding of the planning system, the implementation of Digital Champions within local authorities to promote the rollout and adoption of digital technologies, and further reform of permitted development rights.
- Implement fiscal measures that will have a direct and immediate impact on improving MNO investment outlook – including Business Rates holidays for new mobile infrastructure).
- Consider further actions that can be taken to support private capital being deployed in the UK by mobile operators – taking into consideration significant interventions in other territories (such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the US and the Resilience and Reconstruction Fund in the EU) and the need for operators to offer competitive returns to investors.
