Mobe not-spots 'landmark deal'? We ain't thick, Javid

Coverage increase promise is (mostly) cobblers

Please, no more crowdsourced data

That measurement falls to Ofcom, which has rather dropped the ball in recent surveys, relying on crowdsourced and RootMetrics information, and coming up with the great pronouncement that 4G is faster than 3G.

If the agreement is to actually produce a result beyond what the mobile networks are planning to do anyway it needs comprehensive measurement.

Checking if there is 70 per cent, 80 per cent or 85 per cent national coverage is significantly non-trivial. If putting it in is hard, measuring who has done what is harder still. Indeed the only way to really do this would be for Ofcom to look from inside the networks and then use that as a basis to go out and check - it’s what the networks do for their own measurements.

The new Ofcom head, Sharon White, who faces significant

challenges, but has been hailed as “a breath of fresh air”.

It will be interesting to see how she deals with

future ministers having "good ideas" about how

technical issues will be solved

We asked if Ofcom will be able to go into the Mobile Network Operators Network Operation Centres and look at box maps and signal strengths, and were told "Ofcom will use appropriate methods for ensuring compliance with licence conditions.

This usually takes the form of detailed signal strength information", but were not given any details on where that signal strength information would come from.

It does however mean that at the very least it would use network test equipment and not the crowdsourced data that has been used of late.

It will be a significant challenge for new chief Sharon White, who has be hailed as “a breath of fresh air”. As someone who seems to have been hired as being politically astute rather than hands-on technical it will be interesting to see how she deals with future ministers having "good ideas" about how technical issues will be solved. ®