“I am embarrassed at the level of quality of our networks”: VodafoneThree Networks Director
Key Points
- VodafoneThree networks director Andrea Donà says he is embarrassed by UK network quality
- Which? research places UK mobile coverage behind all 27 EU states and every other G7 nation
- UK ranks 57th globally for network performance and 70th for download speeds
- VodafoneThree has committed £11 billion to mast upgrades but says planning rules are the blocker
- Executives warn AI traffic will turn connectivity into a national competitiveness issue
A top executive at the UK’s largest mobile operator has said its own network quality is not good enough for the AI era, according to reporting by The Guardian.
Andrea Donà, Networks Director at VodafoneThree, told the Guardian that the country’s mobile networks are already falling short of what today’s services demand.
“I am embarrassed today at the level of quality of our network[s],” said Donà, networks director at VodafoneThree.
He argued that the UK deserves better than what EE, O2 and VodafoneThree currently deliver, and that reform is needed to close the gap.
The numbers behind that assessment are unflattering. A recent report from consumer group Which?, based on Opensignal data, found UK mobile coverage trailing all 27 EU member states and every other G7 nation.
That analysis placed the UK 57th globally for network performance, 70th for download speeds and 55th for the reliable quality needed for video calls, streaming and gaming.
Much of the AI infrastructure debate has focused on datacentres and the water and energy they need to train and run models. The networks that carry the resulting traffic have attracted far less attention.
Broadband is the part of the picture that has improved, as BT’s Openreach and rival providers roll full-fibre connections across the country. Mobile upgrades have not kept pace with that progress.
Donà compared the coming strain to the signal loss consumers already experience at large public events, such as a concert at Wembley or the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
He said that the crowd-related congestion people encounter today is an early indication of what constant AI usage will demand from mobile capacity.
A second senior telecoms executive told The Guardian that the link between AI and connectivity is still nascent, but will become a national competitiveness issue in the same way slow full-fibre rollout did.
That executive said the shift will arrive with the next wave of devices in two or three years, once AI is built into everything, and that AI companies and governments tend to ignore networks until networks hold them back.
Operators are spending on the fix. VodafoneThree has committed £11 billion to upgrading masts and rolling out 5G stand-alone technology.
The obstacle, according to the industry, is planning. Donà said the company is not asking to build more sites, and is in fact cutting its nationwide mast estate by 30%.
Around 96% of the upgrades VodafoneThree needs to carry out are on sites it already operates. More than half of those still require some form of planning permission, a process operators describe as lengthy and bureaucratic.
Donà said planning reform is the lowest-cost growth policy available, because it requires no government spending, and would make an early win for the government.
Mobile networks also sit outside the support offered to other critical national infrastructure. Operators point out that datacentres, energy and water systems receive reliefs in areas such as business rates and energy costs that mobile networks do not.
