A leading Scottish business body has said improving broadband coverage must be a “national priority” and called on politicians to take immediate action on the issue.
The interjection by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Scotland came as telecoms regulator Ofcom completed the first phase of its digital communications review.
The review is investigating investment and innovation in the market, competition issues and how well operators are servicing the needs of consumers and businesses.
As part of its work the regulator will look at Openreach, the BT offshoot which was established after the last strategic review in 2005, to decide whether it is a fit vehicle for the purpose of enabling competitors to provide telecoms services to users.
One potential remedy if issues were identified could be a forced split between BT and Openreach.
Ofcom chief executive Sharon White said the review was about delivering the best possible communications services to UK residents and firms.
She said: “Our priorities are clear. We want to promote competition, investment and innovation, so that everyone benefits from even better coverage, choice, price and quality of service in years to come.”
Stuart Mackinnon of FSB Scotland said the market was not delivering for the business community and he called on decision-makers to bring forward real reform.
“Ofcom is right to look at how the digital market operates and how it could be improved for small businesses,” Mr Mackinnon said.
“The FSB in Scotland is particularly concerned about mobile coverage north of the border.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that in 2014 a quarter of Scotland’s landmass had no mobile coverage.
“We recognise that the UK Government’s deal with mobile operators should deliver enhanced coverage, but it isn’t clear to us when individual communities should see improvements.
“Ahead of 2016’s Scottish Parliament elections, we need to see decision- makers , including mobile operators, government officials, regulators and politicians, develop a plan to tackle this issue.”
A BT spokesman said: “We welcome this review and are confident it will find the UK broadband market to be both vibrant and healthy.
“There has been huge progress this past 10 years with an explosion in competition and broadband usage.
“Consumers are getting more for less and the UK has outpaced its European peers in terms of super-fast broadband.”
Sky’s chief strategy office Mai Fyfield and Dido Harding, chief executive of Talk Talk, both welcomed the focus on Openreach within the review.