Welcome To The 5G New Thinking Rural Connectivity Toolkit

...a practical guide for rural and poorly-connected communities that are considering building and operating their own next-generation communications networks.

As the world continues to become more and more digitally connected, access to good connectivity is becoming increasingly important in the everyday activities of consumers, businesses, communities, and public service providers. In the UK, Government ambitions for improving coverage of broadband and mobile services have led to various regulations and policies aimed at making it easier to achieve connectivity, especially in remote rural areas. Coupling this with new developments in technology, we are now at the point where communities really can build their own wide-area, high-bandwidth and cost-effective mobile, wireless and broadband networks.

Enabling digital connectivity in rural areas is challenging though. Suitable locations for mast sites are often difficult to access and it can be difficult to get equipment to them; cable runs (for optical fibre, electrical power, etc.) can be long and expensive to install; customers are sparsely populated and the business case is challenging.

Despite such challenges, there is much that communities themselves can do to enable digital connectivity in their areas, and the 5G New Thinking Rural Toolkit aims to provide practical support and guidance on what needs to be done and the approaches for doing it.

Each community is different, with different connectivity requirements and different operating environments, and different inherent skills and capabilities. You will almost certainly need to engage the services of professional consultants and service providers, but there is much that you can do yourselves!