Business

The rich country with the worst mobile-phone service

5G networks are fast. Their roll-out is not

Published

7 months ago

November 20, 2024

OCHEFA

(The Economist)

BRITAIN HAS long been a pioneer in telecoms. In 1837 it built the world’s first commercial telegraph; the first transatlantic call was placed from London in 1927; in 1992 a British programmer sent the first text message to a mobile phone.

Today it lags rather than leads. According to figures provided to The Economist by Opensignal, a research firm, Britain ranks 46th for download speeds out of the 56 developed and developing countries for which there are data (see chart).

That gives it the worst mobile service in the rich world. Some of this is due to demand. Over the past three years data usage on mobile devices has doubled as people stream films and play games.

The busiest parts of cities often lack mobile reception because the system is at capacity. But mainly it is an issue of supply.

British users of 5G—the fifth generation of networks, which offers speeds up to ten times faster than 4G—are only on it 11% of the time. That puts Britain 43rd out of the 56 countries.

This lacklustre performance is caused by a combination of government U-turns, insufficient investment and sclerotic planning.

First, the U-turns. Until 2020 Britain’s four mobile operators were enthusiastic buyers of 5G equipment manufactured by Huawei, a Chinese firm.

But after intense lobbying from America, Britain’s politicians reversed course: telecoms operators must now remove all their 5G Huawei equipment by 2027.

This has delayed 5G’s roll-out. The country’s four mobile providers—BT/EE, O2, Three and Vodafone—have spent about £2bn ($2.6bn) over the past four years ripping out and replacing Huawei equipment. Second, the need for more investment.

About 90% of Britain’s 5G signals are broadcast from bolt-ons to the existing 4G network.

This “non-stand-alone” version of 5G does not allow “network slicing”, a way to get greater capacity in congested areas, or the quick response times needed to communicate with new technologies such as self-driving cars.

A new “core network” using stand-alone technology must be installed to get the full benefits of 5G. But, according to Frontier Economics, a consultancy, the four mobile operators are likely to invest only about £9bn of the £22bn-32bn required.

A marriage might help. Vodafone and Three, the country’s third- and fourth-largest mobile operators, say they are too small to justify the high capital expenditure of stand-alone 5G, and that they would invest £11bn over a decade if they could merge.

Karen Egan of Enders Analysis, a consultancy, estimates that synergies would result in a 30% increase in network capacity.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a watchdog, is due to decide on the merger on December 7th; it has suggested that 5G investment would be a legally binding condition for a deal. Even if the CMA allows the merger, improving 5G network capacity means erecting more masts.

In 2022 the rules were loosened to permit masts less than 30 metres high to be built without having to seek planning permission. But operators still complain.

Shorter masts cover a smaller area, so more must be built. O2 says it takes at least six months to get a decision on a mast over 30 metres high; applications are often stymied by local opposition.

Overcoming these obstacles is vital for achieving the goal of universal 5G by 2030.

It will also be needed for the eventual roll-out of 6G. In laboratory environments the next generation of mobile networks has reportedly notched up speeds 100 times faster than 5G. Britain is anything but that.■

Related Topics:Featured Mobile phone service Mobile phones

Up Next

Must -Do By FG, Pvte Sector To Achieve $1 Trillion Economy in 2030

Don't Miss

CICAN Conference X-rays“Manufacturing’s $1 trillion GDP target by 2030: Realities & Possibilities

Click to comment

Business

Dangote Petrochemicals for listing on NGX

“Dangote Refinery has already applied for their petrochemical listing, and we are working to ensure their inclusion before the end of the second quarter,” Kwairanga stated.

Published

6 hours ago

June 9, 2025

OhiBaba

The Chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group), Dr. Umaru Kwairanga confirmed that Dangote Petrochemicals has applied for regulatory approval and could be listed before the end of this month.

He said that the upcoming listing of Dangote Petrochemicals on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) is expected to strengthen the stock market.

He emphasized that the listing is expected to attract significant investment, increase market capitalization, and enhance the overall performance of the NGX.

He noted that by bringing one of Africa’s largest petrochemical companies to the stock market, the listing is poised to boost investor confidence and drive growth in the Nigerian capital market.

“Dangote Refinery has already applied for their petrochemical listing, and we are working to ensure their inclusion before the end of the second quarter,” Kwairanga stated.

Business

Cryptocurrency: SEC warns against investing in Punisher Coin or $PUN

Further investigation has revealed that Punisher coin or $PUN is a Meme coin. Meme coins generally have no use case, intrinsic value or tangible projects backing them.

Published

6 hours ago

June 9, 2025

OhiBaba

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is warning the investing public against investing in the cryptocurrency known as Punisher Coin or $PUN.

In a statement , SEC said that the promoters of the cryptocurrency are not registered to operate in any capacity within the Nigerian capital market.

The Commission added that the promoters were engaging in unauthorized presale and acting without regulatory approval.

SEC stated that it was disturbed several online publications blatantly advertising unauthorized presale of “Punisher Coin”, also known as “$PUN”, citing a newspaper’s report titled: “Cryptos to Buy: Why Punisher Coin Could Join Avalanche and Chainlink as a Top Investment Pick”

“The Commission hereby informs the public that neither “PUNISHER COIN” aka“$PUN” nor its promoters have been vetted nor registered by the Commission to either promote, launch, sale, trade or solicit investments from the Nigerian public,” SEC stated.

Further investigation has revealed that Punisher coin or $PUN is a Meme coin. Meme coins generally have no use case, intrinsic value or tangible projects backing them.

Any attributed value to meme coin is usually linked to its promoters or the community effort which most often than not are susceptible to pump and dump schemes-a form of fraudulent activity that involves promoters spreading false or misleading information to create a buying frenzy that “pumps” up the price of a ‘coin’ and then “dumps” the coin by selling their own coins at the inflated price.

Once the promoters dump their coins and stop hyping the coin, the coin price typically falls and investors lose money,” SEC noted.

Business

USSD Charges: Telcos threaten to withdraw services over banks’ misinformation

“If you do not wish to continue using USSD banking under this new model, you may choose to discontinue use of the USSD channel.”

Published

5 days ago

June 4, 2025

OhiBaba

The telecom operators in Nigeria, including MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Globacom and 9Mobile have threatened to withdraw network support for banks’ Unstructured Supplementary Services Data, USSD.

This follows what they described as gross misinformation of subscribers on the mode of deduction for transaction fees.

USSD, commonly known as ‘bank transfers’, is done through shortcodes on mobile phones.

Yesterday, the banks issued a notice to their customers that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed them to stop deducting charges for USSD transactions directly from customers’ accounts, and that telecoms will now deduct charges from users’ mobile airtime.

The notice from the banks read in part:

“In line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), please be informed that effective June 3, 2025, charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from your bank account.

Going forward, these charges will be deducted directly from your mobile airtime balance in accordance with the NCC’s End-User Billing (EUB) model.

“Under this new billing structure, each USSD session will attract a charge of ?6.98 per 120 seconds, which will be billed by your mobile network operator.

“You will receive a consent prompt at the start of each session, and airtime will only be deducted upon your confirmation and availability of the bank to fulfil this service.

“If you do not wish to continue using USSD banking under this new model, you may choose to discontinue use of the USSD channel.”

However, in a swift reaction, the telcos under their umbrella body, the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, ALTON said the banks’ notice is a gross misinformation deliberately hatched to suit their selfish interests.

Hence they threatened to withdraw network support to the banks’ USSD services.

Chairman of ALTON Engr Gbenga Adebayo told Vanguard: ” I don’t understand why the banks are twisting agreements and distorting information just to favour their selfish interests.

In the first place, the information wasn’t a directive from the NCC but a joint regulatory agreement between the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN witnessed by the telcos and the banks.

The agreement was that if the banks finally cleared all USSD debts owed to the telcos by June 2, 2025, they would be free to migrate to the end-user billing method, so long as the model of migration is transparent and agreed upon by the telcos.

Source: Vanguard