£30 million investment in north Wales’ 4g and 5g mobile network coverage will begin later this year

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

A £30 million investment in north Wales’ 4g and 5g mobile network coverage will begin later this year after BT and Openreach were accused of failing the region.

Investment will be centred on rural and semi-rural areas where there is little or no coverage, with urban areas where demand exceeds capacity also receiving improved coverage.

The news was revealed as Wrexham County Borough Council’s Employment, Business and Investment Scrutiny Committee reviewed the annual report of Ambition North Wales – formerly known as the North Wales Economic Ambition Board.

The board – a partnership between all six North Wales local authorities – was set up to improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of North Wales as a whole and encourage sustainable development.

It secured funding of £240 million from Welsh Government and the UK Government – known as its Growth Deal – to help it generate £1 billion of inward investment to the region.

Mobile data connectivity

Ongoing issues with mobile data connectivity in Wrexham were highlighted by Cllr Mike Davies, who asked if there were any plans to invest in improvements.

“Wrexham has really struggled with the adoption of 5G,” he said. “In fact even 4G is very bad.

“Is there any way as a body you could put some pressure on our digital providers to improve both 5G and 4G?”

Wrexham Council leader Cllr Mark Pritchard, who is also chair of Ambition North Wales, said the issue was a priority for the board, suggesting that North Wales was having to pick up where traditional providers had simply not delivered.

“It isn’t just Wrexham, all parts of North Wales are struggling to get a reception,” he said. “Mainly the rural areas.

“Can I say openly that BT and Openreach have failed, no if’s or buts, for rural areas.

“We have had some successes but the normal utilities providers have failed because they’ve focused on urban areas and excluded rural or semi urban areas. They haven’t achieved what they should have in my opinion.

“Both governments have invested millions upon millions and they (the utility companies) still haven’t delivered.”

Upgrade work

Ambition North Wales Head of Operations Hedd Vaughan-Evans then confirmed that later in 2025/26 upgrade work would be carried out on the 4G and 5G network across the region.

“We have a digital programme within the Growth Deal,” he said. “There’s £30 million allocated across that programme to look at fibre, 4G and 5G technologies.”

That programme includes connected campuses – which will see investment in advanced wireless and Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) so North Wales businesses have the connectivity they need to sustain economic activity across the region.

It will also include 4G+ which will will improve 4G mobile connectivity at key economic sites while supporting wider deployment of 5G network coverage and Bangor University’s Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Centre which manages how digital information is processed efficiently and reliably between devices and people.

“Those projects are moving into delivery in the second half of this year with work continuing over the next three or four years, targeted at supporting greater investment by the networks in 4G and 5G,” said Hedd.

“They will focus on areas where there is no or limited coverage, but also where there is coverage but the capacity of the network is not big enough.

“I’m sure you’ve all been looking at your phone and it’s telling you you have 4G or 5G but nothing’s working – that’s because there’s not enough capacity.

“It’s a particular issue around big events, so you’ll probably see it every time there’s a home game in Wrexham.

“One big advantage we’ve got now which the region hasn’t had previously is, thanks to some SPF funding, we’ve invested in our own mobile survey kit.

“We’re using council lorries and vans across the region to get our own data so we’re not reliant on the network providers to tell us the strength of signal and network capacity.

“That’s going to help us to target investment in what is a priority area for us.”