Q4 2022 Forward - Mobile Broadband Network Limited

Winter 2022
Contents

Foreword How the UK’s Mobile Operators are helping customers through the cost-of-living crisis Transforming rural life – the many benefits of rural mobile coverage Celebrating 10 years of 4G in the UK We are all ears - MBNL Compliments, Comments & Complaints Policy The National Connectivity Alliance – working together to deliver world-class connectivity for the UK MBNL Site Provider Experience Survey 2022

Foreword

By Juliette Wallace, Property Director

Welcome to the winter edition of MBNL InSite – hot off the press in the run-up to the festive season! This issue also marks the second anniversary of InSite. I hope the articles have been of interest to you. It is our intention to continue to provide relevant and interesting content within this quarterly newsletter. If there is anything specific you think would make an interesting article, do get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.

Christmas is traditionally a time when many of us let our hair down and enjoy a party or two. The festive season is well known for bringing together friends and family in celebration, encouraging people to reconnect. Nothing beats a great catch up with loved ones that we don’t see that often during the rest of the year. Whatever your celebration plans, I hope you will have an enjoyable time with the people you cherish this holiday season.

Connection between people continues to become more important in all of our daily lives. Thankfully, digital advances make this connectedness so much easier by enabling people to access and use the many communications technologies available nowadays. At MBNL, we take pride in being part of the industry that connects people and businesses across the country. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our site providers for helping to make this possible by supporting our operations.

As 2022 comes to a close, we welcome the news that the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill has been granted Royal Assent following its passage through Parliament. Once effective, the bill will help to encourage fairer, faster, and more collaborative negotiations between industry representatives and site providers. Looking forward to 2023, together with the wider industry, MBNL and our Shareholders are committed to bringing better connectivity to more places and communities to build a stronger foundation for the UK’s digital future. I look forward to continuing to work closely with you towards this goal.

This year-end edition opens with a look at how the UK’s mobile industry is supporting and protecting vulnerable customers amid the current cost-of-living crisis, and to help them remain connected. Linked to the same theme, we share the key findings of a recent research by Government on how mobile connectivity can improve businesses and people’s lives in rural areas. And did you know that 4G in the UK has just turned 10 years old? Keep reading to learn more about this significant milestone of the mobile industry. I’m also pleased to let you know that MBNL has launched our first formal Compliments, Comments & Complaints Policy to support our ongoing drive for positive engagement with our site provider community and the wider public. Equally new and important is the National Connectivity Alliance, recently established to promote collaboration between the telecommunications industry and landowner communities to deliver world-class digital connectivity for all in the UK. A last note to my foreword, I invite you to take part in our annual Site Provider Experience Survey. Your feedback is instrumental to helping us improve and deliver better experience to our site provider community. It’s a short survey and can be found towards the end of the newsletter. Whether you are a farmer, smallholder, council representative or other type of site provider, do take part to share your valuable views.

Have a joyful Christmas and a fantastic new year!