Rural mobile phone users are less happy with their service than those in urban areas, research shows

The Countryside Alliance welcomes a report into mobile phone call quality that was published by Ofcom today (12 August 2014).

The report, based on independent research, shows that whilst 78% of those living in urban areas are satisfied with the service from their mobile phone network, this drops to 67% in rural areas. Those living in the countryside also experience a higher number of failed calls.

Sarah Lee, head of policy for the Countryside Alliance, said: "We welcome this report. The results show that people living in the countryside do not get the same level of service as those in towns and cities, an issue we regularly highlight. Some of data used by Ofcom was provided by RootMetrics and builds on the work done by our members with that company to map the reality of rural reception (see note below).

"The agreement from the four mobile phone service providers to develop a common methodology for rating phone service will create a very useful tool for consumers, allowing them to work out which network would give them the best service depending on where they live. And the companies' promise to match O2's pledge to deliver a 4G service to 98% of the population is also very good news," added Miss Lee.

For more information, contact Countryside Alliance head of media Charlotte Cooper on 0207 840 9220 or [email protected]

Notes for journalists
• The full report can be found at http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/telecoms-research/consumer-experiences-mobile-phone-calls/report.pdf
• In June 2013 the Countryside Alliance launched a crowd-sourcing project to map the true mobile phone reception in the countryside. We asked smart phone owners to download the free RootMetrics CoverageMap app and send back samples of the mobile phone signal where they are. The campaign is on-going and the results, so far, can be seen here www.rootmetrics.com/uk/