Conclusion 2

The Department has not identified the specific benefits it is aiming to achieve in the most remote areas of the UK to help guide decisions on where investment is most needed to improve connectivity. To secure good value from the Shared Rural Network programme, the Department needs to know where improved connectivity will offer the greatest benefits for the funding available. However, the Department’s business case for the programme included limited evidence of the specific benefits of extending mobile coverage into remote and sparsely populated areas, where building masts may be more difficult or expensive, or where there may be an impact on the environment. Stakeholders from the northwest of Scotland, in areas which are particularly remote, have already raised concerns about the impact on the environment and questioned whether the benefits justify the investment of taxpayers’ money. The Department accepts that there is a need for more information on the benefits of improving connectivity in remote areas and says that the individual benefits of each mast will be set out as part of the planning process, which will help to test the benefits of each site. Recommendation 2: Now that the proposed locations of Shared Rural Network masts are more certain, the Department should revisit its cost benefit analysis 6 Supporting mobile connectivity to determine more precisely who will benefit, and how, from its investment in 4G connectivity. It should use this information to inform final decisions on mast locations and numbers and to communicate the case for investment to stakeholders.