The National Connectivity Alliance – working together to deliver world-class connectivity for the UK

In the summer edition, we talked about how MBNL had been part of an industry initiative led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to promote best practice across the UK’s telecommunications industry. We are pleased to share an update that the National Connectivity Alliance has recently been launched as a result.

The National Connectivity Alliance is an alliance of telecommunications providers, infrastructure providers, landowners and their professional advisers. The Alliance brings together these stakeholders to collaborate on areas of mutual interest with the goal of delivering world-class digital connectivity for all in the UK.

Digital connectivity, especially mobile technology, is rapidly evolving and considered an essential resource in today’s world. Digital connectivity is fundamental to the growth and success of the UK economy. Communities depend on reliable connectivity to stay connected and to ensure social inclusion whilst businesses harness the benefits of digital technologies to boost productivity and increase competitiveness. Ensuring good mobile connectivity across the country calls for close collaboration between the Operators, site providers, and the wider telecommunications industry in hosting and maintaining network infrastructure.

Recognising the need to build strong relationships with each other to deliver on this goal, the Alliance will bring together these stakeholders to work on issues of mutual interest, improve co-operation and to share best practices. In particular, the Alliance has agreed on a Communications Framework aiming to set the right expectations and behaviours to make the site agreement process as smooth as possible. It is in everyone’s interest to follow this when engaging in site agreement negotiations to ultimately play a responsible part in enabling the public to gain better access to digital services. Strong relationships between all parties, whether in relation to the search for a new site location or maintaining existing sites, will ensure better connectivity can be rolled out across the country more quickly and efficiently, and in turn support the Government’s digital ambitions.

MBNL is dedicated to improving site provider engagement and at the heart of this is our Landlord Relationship Team. Possessing a wealth of experience from both the telecommunications and customer service industries, the team is dedicated to facilitating better conversations with our site provider community to deliver on our positive engagement assurance.