IN THE week the Country, Land and Business Association urged MPs to wield the whip to help bring rural businesses into the 4G fold, it has also unveiled a new framework designed to speed up the roll-out of broadband.

The body that represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses across England and Wales said its members were being kept in a digital dark age because of the reluctance of network operators to invest in the countryside.

It told an influential group of MPs, during an inquiry by an all party parliamentary group into the impact of inadequate mobile phone signals on rural businesses, that Ofcom must force mobile operators to make 4G connectivity available for all.

CLA deputy president Mark Bridgeman said: “4G is vital to running a business. It is needed for marketing, communication and driving forward innovative technology. But rural businesses are being kept in a digital dark age because of mobile not-spots across the countryside.

“Many rural communities have been abandoned by the mobile network operators who will only make investments in the countryside when forced to do so.

“Ofcom must demand more and challenge this reluctance to invest in rural areas.”

In tandem with that, the CLA and the NFU together have updated a wayleave framework designed to help speed up the roll-out of rural broadband while ensuring fair treatment for landowners.

The refreshed national Rural Communications Agreement includes advisory rates of payment for the installation of new underground digital infrastructure on private land that are a four per cent rise on the rates set in 2012.

Hopefully it will provide an easier track to agreement between landowners and broadband providers, said Mr Bridgeman.

“People living and working in rural areas have fought long and hard for better broadband provision, and the wayleave agreement that we announce today will help speed up fixed line broadband delivery without eroding property rights.

“It creates a national framework that provides certainty for individual landowners and smooths the way for faster roll-out.”

The revised agreement was the culmination of more than a year’s work and its introduction was a positive step forward, he said.

Mr Bridgeman added: “The CLA will keep the pressure on broadband providers to deliver the fast, affordable and reliable connections the countryside needs. We will hold the Government to their promise of a Universal Service Obligation of 10Mbps by 2020.”