VodafoneThree wants faster planning reform to accelerate UK mobile upgrades.
Chief Network Officer and Network Director Andrea Donà says the operator has £11 billion ready for network investment. However, he argues that current planning rules slow deployment across cities and rural areas.
“It’s embarrassing because, as an industry, we haven’t been able to deliver what the UK economy, the public, the consumer, business needs, in terms of performance of national critical infrastructure, like mobile,” Donà tells Mobile Europe.
The central issue is not funding. It is speed of execution.
“We’ve been hampered in our investment. If you look at our situation today, we’ve got £11 billion to invest. I need government to help me through planning reform, to be able to spend that money in the most efficient, effective and fast way.”
Donà wants simpler approval rules for existing mobile sites. He says small mast changes often face full planning checks. That creates delays for upgrades that customers may never see directly. Yet they feel the impact through weaker coverage and slower data.
“Not everything should go through full planning. We should expand the permitted development rights,” he says.
“When I’ve got an existing mast and I need to expand it by two metres in height or half a metre in width, I need to do full planning. It should be permitted.”
This approach could help operators upgrade busy locations faster. It could also improve coverage where demand keeps rising. Still, local authorities may worry about visual impact, planning control, and community objections.
Another problem comes from building redevelopment. Operators often receive notices to leave rooftop sites. Donà says removal deadlines can arrive faster than replacement approvals. That creates gaps in service, especially in dense city centres.
He says operators may get 18 months’ notice. Yet rebuilding telecoms infrastructure can take 32 to 36 months.
The debate now extends beyond mobile coverage. Donà links stronger networks to the UK’s AI ambitions. AI services need fast links between users and data centres. Without enough capacity, response times can suffer.
5G standalone could help address that pressure. It can offer lower delay and better capacity management. Vodafone Business already uses network slicing for its SuperMobile for Business service. This reserves capacity for companies running critical applications.
“You don’t want to be interrogating AI and waiting for a response to arrive,” he says.
“If you don’t have the motorway built for that level of traffic exchange between the data centres and the end users, you could very quickly end up with congestion, and then we’ll fall behind.”
Donà argues the UK must match digital ambition with national infrastructure.
“The UK deserves to be number one in telecoms. It’s a first-world country, it’s got a very developed economy, and the government has a growth ambition,” he continues.
The message is clear. VodafoneThree has the capital and wants fewer barriers. The UK government now faces a familiar challenge. It must balance faster digital infrastructure with planning oversight and local accountability.
