The mobile phone signal in the heart of London is deteriorating with “bottlenecks” on the network, The Standard can reveal.
Londoners are suffering a poor quality service at times due to a “perfect storm” of fewer antennas sites caused by housing and other developments, as well as planning delays, and more tall buildings being built in the capital.
Data, rather than phone calls, is being impacted making it harder to use websites, stream videos and access Whatsapp messages.
The West End, the City, Westminster, and Tower Hamlets are understood to be the parts of the capital seeing the biggest problems.
Crowded areas, such as near busy Tube and rail stations, are often most affected as the “bottlenecks” are due to capacity shortfalls on the network.
Professor Robert Joyce, director of mobile access engineering at O2, told The Standard: “Mobile connectivity is critical to how people live and work.
“But in London essential equipment is being removed faster than it can be replaced with planning rules pummelling mobile coverage in the capital.”
Other operators are understood to be affected, with companies often sharing sites, and the trade body Mobile UK has sounded the alarm with the Government over the issue, with antennas sites having to be removed due to developments.
“The industry is experiencing a significant growth in Notice to Quits (NTQs) from landowners, particularly in high-density areas such as London,” it said in a submission to the Department of Science Innovation, and Technology’s Mobile Market Review.
“This leads directly to the loss of established sites, resulting in immediate coverage gaps and degraded network quality for customers.”
Prof Joyce stressed that London has fewer antennas sites per person than cities such as Manchester and Leeds and that it is “really hard” to find such locations “on London rooftops”.
So communication companies are struggling to replace these mobile phone sites when they are forced to take them down due to developments.
Virgin Media 02 currently has more than 50 sites offline in London which it said was leaving busy areas at times “blighted by poor quality mobile coverage”.
It partly blamed the situation on an “outdated planning system” hampering efforts to meet the 20% growth a year in mobile data traffic.
The company emphasised that on average it takes two-and-a-half years to replace a site, with some offline for more than seven years, so equipment is being removed faster than it can be replaced.
“If we don't have enough sites in a particular area, we don't have enough capacity,” explained Prof Joyce.
In some cases, mobile operators are having to resort to less effective temporary “stop gap” sites after having been given “notices to quit” by developers.
In other parts of the capital, including in Walthamstow, Wimbledon, Wandsworth and Becton, east London, the mobile phone service is improving as it is upgraded with the latest 5G technology.
To tackle the “bottlenecks,” communication chiefs are calling for planning rules to be updated so “reliable coverage” can be delivered across the capital.
Reforms being sought include being able to use a temporary site for 36 months rather than 18, reducing the number of applications requiring full planning consent, and increasing the number of antennas permitted under existing rules to enable faster 4G and 5G upgrades.
Gareth Elliott, director of policy and communications at Mobile UK, said: "The critical connectivity gaps opening up across our cities, and particularly in London, are a stark wake-up call that outdated planning rules are undermining our digital foundations faster than operators can rebuild them.
“Mobile connectivity is critical national infrastructure, yet networks are routinely being forced off key urban sites due to redevelopment red tape.“
A Government spokesperson said: “Access to high-quality, reliable 5G networks is essential to boosting our economy and delivering services which are fit for modern life.
"That’s why we’ve been exploring targeted planning reforms to speed up the rollout of telecoms infrastructure - including making it easier to temporarily relocate masts when sites are lost, and expanding permitted development rights.”
