Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Revisit cost benefit analysis for Shared Rural Network 4G investment to inform mast locations.
Conclusion
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.
Government Response Summary
The department will refresh its benefits model and cost-benefit analysis using new data, including a study on consumer willingness to pay for connectivity, and will gather benefits data from exercise apps and conduct qualitative research with stakeholders.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. and businesses. Using new data on the coverage provided by the TNS and EAS projects, the department will be refreshing its benefits model to further analyse the programme’s expected benefits. Similarly, coverage uplift delivered under the Partial Not Spots (PNS) project can be tracked using data from Ofcom’s connected nations reports and will be analysed through this benefit model refresh, the programme’s evaluation, and bespoke pieces of analysis. The department is also refreshing the figures underpinning the programme’s cost benefit analysis. This includes a study on the value that consumers are willing to pay for mobile connectivity – the first of its kind in a decade. These figures capture the current picture on the benefit of mobile connectivity in remote areas, as well as the latest costs from Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited (DMSL), a joint venture of UK mobile network operators EE, Virgin Media (O2), Three and Vodafone. The department is also taking an innovative approach to benefits data, including gathering information on leisure activity in coverage areas through exercise apps. In addition, there are multiple non-monetised benefits to the programme which cannot be included in the cost benefit analysis. The department is conducting further qualitative research with key stakeholders in TNS areas to increase the evidence base on benefits (and challenges) with delivering mobile connectivity to these areas. This analysis will be included in the department’s bid at the Spending Review.