Supporting the future of digital infrastructure policy with Mobile Infrastructure Forum (MIF)

Our Public Affairs Lead, Jesam Eyong, has recently been appointed Chair of the Public Affairs Working Group within the Mobile Infrastructure Forum (MIF). The group brings together industry stakeholders to discuss policy issues affecting the rollout and evolution of the UK’s mobile infrastructure. 

We spoke to Jesam about the policy landscape, the direction of the industry and some of the wider forces shaping the future of connectivity. 

What role does the Mobile Infrastructure Forum’s Public Affairs Working Group play in the industry? 

To answer that, it’s worth briefly recapping how the Forum is structured. MIF brings together the four ‘TowerCos’ that install the vast majority of the UK’s passive mobile infrastructure, the physical towers and structures on which the three mobile network operators install antennae, which in turn provide mobile coverage to the public. 

MIF’s Executive group, led by current Chair of the wider Forum, Jon Freeman, and including the previous Chair, Cornerstone’s very own Belinda Fawcett, determine the major issues affecting the ability of all four participants to deploy the networks the UK needs. They communicate the importance of tackling those issues to Government ministers and senior officials at a strategic level.  

By contrast, the Public Affairs Working Group builds relationships with officials designing the policy that affects the industry day to day. In practice that means providing evidence and insights as guided by the subject matter experts within the Forum, articulating challenges in detail, and engaging in constructive dialogue with government and regulators about how policy can support long-term network investment and deployment. 

We also play a key role in promoting the TowerCo industry and its importance to the Government’s aims to other stakeholders – MPs and Lords, local government, and other trade bodies that have an interest in high quality mobile connectivity across the UK.  

All four members of the Public Affairs Working Group work together, bringing different skill sets and perspectives to our conversations with policy makers – which is what makes it so effective.  

Planning reform and updates to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) are currently being discussed. What matters most for digital infrastructure? 

Both are crucial. Planning policy as a whole has a significant impact on how quickly networks can evolve to meet growing demand. As the UK plans for new homes, new towns and strives for economic growth, digital connectivity needs to be treated as essential infrastructure alongside transport, power and water. 

Within MIF, our planning experts tell us local planning authorities have a tough job balancing competing priorities when making decisions, usually with very little time and a very heavy workload (which tallies up with what I saw while in Government). Clearer national guidance and permitted development rights for some mobile infrastructure would help planners to make more consistent decisions earlier. These changes would also free up more time for planners to assess larger scale developments, and to have more strategic, collaborative discussions with the telecoms industry where we do need to find a compromise. 

 We know improving existing infrastructure is more straight forward where those discussions take place, but they tend to happen in the few areas whose councils are relatively well resourced – and might even be able to allocate a specialist planner to telecoms applications. While we commend councils that can do this, it’s a utopia that’s less and less achievable for more and more councils in practice. It’s only right that the whole country gets access to the infrastructure they need, now and in the future. The reforms and changes to guidance we’re calling for will be crucial to make that happen.     

How is the role of digital infrastructure evolving as the digital economy grows? 

Connectivity has become fundamental to how society functions. Most people now pay for most things digitally.  The logistics and supply chains we rely on, the healthcare we depend on, the emergency services we hope we never come into contact with but save our lives and those of our loved ones – can all be improved today with the use of real time communication. 

 In fact, we’re already seeing digital connectivity play a greater role in the delivery of public services, For example, remote monitoring of mould and damp is greatly enhancing how some councils manage their social housing stock and provide adequate care for those most in need. Others are trialling smart traffic monitoring systems, gaining access to data helping them design neighbourhoods that are safer for cyclists and for children to walk to school. The vast volumes of data which can be analysed by emerging AI technologies look set to enhance these services further.  

None of that is possible without higher capacity networks, which means digital infrastructure fit for the digital age – and yes, 5G capability across the UK. That’s why digital infrastructure is increasingly being discussed in the same terms as other forms of national infrastructure — something that underpins economic activity and public services across the country. The vast majority of the digital infrastructure underpinning these services will come from private investment – improving the lives of taxpayers without them shouldering the financial burden.  

How are geopolitical discussions, including data sovereignty, shaping the infrastructure conversation? 

At Cornerstone we are definitely hearing more questions about where data is processed and how digital services operate across borders. 

Organisations are relying more heavily on cloud platforms to exist and carry out their core functions. Today’s global instability and shifting world events mean businesses are thinking twice about where their data is housed, and what would be at stake if they couldn’t access it for even a short period of time.   

Distributed edge and micro-edge infrastructure are part of that broader shift, allowing data to be processed closer to where it’s created while supporting more resilient and responsive digital services. 

What do you see as the most important priorities for the industry in the coming years? 

I’d be shocked if society’s demand for data suddenly dropped off a cliff in the coming years!  Even if internet traffic doesn’t grow at quite the same rate as it did during Covid – it’s still going up. I also expect public expectations to rise with that demand; if you depend more on the internet to work, play or make a living, you’re less likely to accept unreliable connectivity wherever you are. Soon many businesses may not be able to compete without proper connectivity either.  

 We as the “TowerCo” industry are ready to adapt by building the infrastructure to cope with those new expectations – as long as we have the legislative environment to do so. We’re also thinking carefully about how we evolve to serve specific sectors for which a failure of reliable, high quality connectivity would be catastrophic.  

Ultimately, the goal is straightforward: ensuring the infrastructure that underpins the UK’s digital economy can continue to evolve in step with how people live, work and interact with technology. 

For media enquiries, please contact media@cornerstone.network.