Poor connectivity is failing towns like Telford – and so is denial

Telford, the town I call home and am proud to represent, is growing. By 2032, our local authority is projected to hit 200,000 people, which will be 12.5% population growth on 2018. With plenty of land to build, a thriving manufacturing sector, beautiful green spaces and heritage, and just a half hour’s drive from Wolverhampton, we’ve got plenty to offer.

Telford is a New Town; we want to welcome people moving here, and we want to welcome businesses opening up or relocating here. But it’s hard to do that if we can’t offer 21st-century infrastructure.

But constituents from right across my town tell me that they can’t get 5G in their home or their work; often they can’t get 4G; sometimes, they can’t even get phone signal. Many tell me, and I’ve seen myself, that there’s no 5G even in our town centre. This is not something my constituents should have to complain about in 2026 – and the worst part is, they tell me it’s getting worse.

Yet Ofcom tells us that 99% of Telford postcodes have 5G coverage; that there’s no problem to fix. It’s difficult to be told that what I experience every day, what I hear from my constituents in conversations every week, is not real.

Fortunately, we have hard evidence to back up what we’re saying. The River Severn Partnership has found that, contrary to what Ofcom told me, 28% of Telford roads do not have adequate phone signal; the Local Government Association, conducting nationwide research, found a “significant difference” between Ofcom’s estimations of 5G coverage and the reality on the ground. Ofcom’s figures are based largely on the information they’re given by providers. The providers, in turn, generate their data through computer modelling. Clearly, there is something wrong here: Ofcom told us our experiences were wrong, because the providers had marked their own homework – and given themselves full marks.

Clearly, the ultimate problem is that our 5G infrastructure – whether it’s coverage or capacity – is not good enough. We mustn’t mistake the diagnosis for the disease here. But it’s also clear that the diagnosis is wrong, and it’s making it much harder to fight the disease when the doctor denies it’s there in the first place.

Ofcom have assured me that users can submit feedback to their coverage map where it’s incorrect. I don’t think that’s enough, but it’s a start – and I’d encourage everyone who relates to the problems I’ve described to do that. And I know providers are continuing to build new infrastructure and upgrade existing infrastructure across my town and others.

The problem is that it’s hard to have faith in the providers that are telling us things will get better when they’re the providers who are telling us that everything’s fine as it is.

Half the battle, then, is getting it on the record that the current state of affairs is not good enough. Because if the official data is wrong in Telford, where else might it be wrong? How many people experiencing inadequate 5G connectivity have been told that 99% of their area has good coverage?

What we need, as the Local Government Association has called for, is an independent review of 5G infrastructure and how it’s reported. I welcome that the Government has made improving access to 5G a priority and has made impressive progress towards that priority, through Project Gigabit and other initiatives – but the Government will be hampered in its progress if the full information is not publicly available.

So far, the Government, Ofcom and mobile providers have engaged with me constructively and I will continue to work with them. But I want to get the word out there to my constituents in Telford, and to anyone across the country experiencing poor 5G, 4G or phone signal, that they are not imagining things. Report it to Ofcom, tell your MP, and don’t settle for poor connectivity because you’re told it isn’t poor. The first step on the road to abundant 5G is recognising that, right now, we don’t have it.