Infrastructure First: MIF Response to the Government’s Mobile Market Review

The Mobile Infrastructure Forum (MIF) — representing the UK’s leading creators and managers of shared wireless infrastructure: Cellnex UK, Cornerstone, MBNL, and Wireless Infrastructure Group — strongly welcomes the Government’s Mobile Market Review. 

Published by Baroness Lloyd of Effra CBE, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at DSIT, the review marks a watershed moment. It rightly recognises that high quality resilient mobile connectivity is not optional but fundamental to ensuring that everyone is able to thrive in the digital age. For the first time, there is a clear roadmap to addressing the systemic health of the UK's digital physical layer. 

A Strategy Grounded in Reality 

The 4 participants of the MIF provide the essential masts, towers, and small cells that power the UK's digital economy – and the Government’s recognition of neutral host providers in upgrading the countries networks is welcome. However, the sector currently faces an increasingly complex investment landscape. We are encouraged to see the Government acknowledge this, but we need a stable, predictable and ambitious framework that encourages the massive capital expenditure required for 5G densification.

The Mobile Infrastructure Forum asserts that the ambitions of this Review cannot be met in a vacuum. Policy shifts must be mirrored by practical, on-the-ground reform. 

Modernising the investment landscape is only effective if we also address the day-to-day barriers. This includes the urgent need for planning reform to ensure consistency in local decision-making and the finalisation of critical reforms to the Electronic Communications Code. The Mobile Infrastructure Forum’s four participants will be critical to achieving the UK's 2030 connectivity targets – but without a streamlined process for site acquisition and upgrade, these activities will remain a logistical challenge. 

Jonathan Freeman, Chair of the Mobile Infrastructure Forum, commented: 

“MIF participants are the driving force behind the UK’s digital rollout, investing in the mobile infrastructure that keeps the country connected and competitive. We welcome this review as a clear signal that the Government understands world-class mobile infrastructure is the foundation of its growth mission. Our focus now is to ensure this strategic commitment is matched by  addressing the practical barriers we currently experience, especially those associated with planning reform and the operation of the Building Safety Act - alongside wider measures and targets that will enable the deployment of the resilient, future‑proofed networks the UK needs.”

ENDS