Networks have pledged £5 billion to tackle signal blackspots

The government has been trying to do something about tackling blackspots in mobile signal for a while now, even suggesting that the networks let users piggyback off other networks’ signal in certain situations. The networks didn’t like this idea, and to avoid it they’ve pledged a combined total of £5 billion to deal with the problem.

The agreement involves EE, O2, Three, and Vodafone, and will ensure that voice and text services are available on 85% of the UK landmass by 2017. Ofcom is apparently being called in to make sure the networks play ball and actually fulfil their end of the deal.

Sadly this agreement only covers 2G coverage, which means you can’t expect to stream Netflix videos in the middle of nowhere anytime soon. It does, however, mean that some people will be getting access to stable coverage for the very first time.

It’s not ideal for those of us who are accustomed to being able to browse the web whenever we feel like it, but a single bar of 2G signal is a darn sight better than no signal at all.