Almost half of Britain cannot browse internet because of poor mobile signal
Britain's mobile coverage is so patchy that almost half the country struggles to browse the internet, data have revealed.
The four mobile network operators have 'acceptable' coverage across just 55pc of the country's landmass on average, leaving large swathes of the population with sluggish connections, according to figures compiled by mobile data firm Streetwave.
The research appears to underscore concerns among Britons that shoddy mobile signal is frustrating consumers and damaging productivity.
Kester Mann, an analyst at CCS Insight, said the analysis 'highlights, once again, the disappointing performance of UK mobile networks'.
He added: 'This is a combination of several factors, including a lack of investment from the industry, the mandated swap-out of equipment from Huawei, environmental push-back against the deployment of new masts and burdensome planning restrictions.'
The research found significant disparity between the performance of the UK's four mobile networks.
EE's coverage levels were the highest at 69pc, followed by Vodafone at 61pc. O2's acceptable coverage reached just 50pc, while Three lagged well behind on 38pc.
Overall, however, the results for all providers are below the official data compiled by regulator Ofcom in September stating geographic 4G coverage is in the range of 88pc to 89pc.
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