New government policy 'badly hitting 5G mobile coverage' in our region

GREATER Manchester is falling behind in the race for the rollout of 5G and is now facing the consequences, says one telecoms company.

- BY GEORGE LYTHGOE

APWireless, who help other companies to deliver 5G masts, believe a government policy designed to speed up the UK’s 5G rollout is backfiring. In 2017, the government changed the rules so that telecom companies could pay landowners - such as councils, NHS trusts, businesses and even sports clubs much less to host mobile phone masts on their land.

The idea was to cut costs and make it cheaper to roll out 5G.

Some landowners pushed back, refusing to accept the new lower payments, according to APWireless, with some forced to pay mobile operators to host their infrastructure. Others ended up in court, fighting over what they saw as unfair terms.

This has resulted in mobile operators taking more and more cases to tribunal to force access onto sites.

Due to the 2017 reforms to the Electronic Communications Code, the number of legal disputes about mobile masts has 'exploded' and slowing down the 5G rollout in Greater Manchester, tech bosses have claimed.

With disputes between landowners and telecoms companies across the city-region continuing, Manchester's 5G download speeds are falling behind other UK cities, according to recent data.

The average speed in the first quarter of 2025 was 135.9 Mbps in Greater Manchester compared to 185 Mbps in Glasgow and 149 Mbps in Leeds. As legal rows continue, that gap is only expected to grow.

Despite these claims, an Ofcom report shows that 5G connectivity has improved in Greater Manchester Local Authorities since May 2022. The Connected Nations Report details that 5G capacity is almost at 100 per cent from at least one mobile network operator in all 10 boroughs across the city-region.