VodafoneThree says planning delays leave one in five London high streets with weak signal

Mobile coverage in London could be suffering because planning approvals take too long, the network operator VodafoneThree says. Research it commissioned puts a “functional not-spot” on roughly one high street in five, meaning a signal shows on the handset but is too patchy to carry data properly.

Behind it, the company says, sits the volume of building refurbishment going on across the capital. Every scheme shifts kit off one site and on to another. Operators typically get 18 months of warning that equipment must come down, yet consent for a new location can take as long as five years.

Stations and high streets losing coverage

Before the year is out, VodafoneThree says it will be told to clear equipment from close to 100 sites in the capital. At any point roughly 60 stations on National Rail, the Tube or the Overground sit under a notice to quit, three of the five busiest mainline termini among them. The research puts the cost of that disruption at about £7.4 million a day in lost economic output for the capital.

Rival networks face the same squeeze. Investment is not the constraint, the company argues; the gap sits between how quickly a site can be switched off and how long a replacement takes to build.

What the operator wants councils to change

VodafoneThree wants coverage on the table far earlier in redevelopment schemes, with replacement sites agreed at the pre-application stage instead of once kit is due to be switched off. It is pressing the Greater London Authority to coordinate that work, and asking for the next London Plan to carry protections for mobile coverage during redevelopment. Nationally, it wants temporary installations allowed to stand for up to 36 months while permanent sites are prepared.

Chief network officer Andrea Donà said the capital’s economy leans increasingly on digital connections as well as physical ones, and that stripping out infrastructure before replacements arrive can leave communities with years of poor service. “This is not an investment challenge,” he said, pointing to planning processes that push sites offline faster than they can be rebuilt.

Survation polled 1,008 London adults for the study in May 2026.