Almost a third of homes and businesses in Swindon do not have full 4G coverage, according to Ofcom.

Figures from the communications regulator’s Connected Nations report show that in January 2018, 31 per cent of premises in the town did not have reliable 4G coverage from all four mobile phone networks. Last year, that figure was 30 per cent, meaning a minimal improvement in a year.

The Government target is 95 per cent geographic coverage across the UK from at least one network by 2022.

Business leaders from Swindon said the figures just weren’t good enough and could damage the town’s economy.

Ian Larrard, director of Swindon and Wiltshire at Business West, said: “A reliable mobile phone signal is one of the most basic requirements for any business, as more and more conversations and transactions take place while people are on the go. While dropped calls and poor signal are becoming less of an issue, 4G coverage in Swindon remains patchy, particularly in comparison to our neighbours.

“In Bristol, 75 per cent of mobile phone users have access to 4G and in Reading it is 99 per cent.

“ Swindon is way behind the national average and this simply cannot do for prominent businesses that we have in the town.

“At Business West we have been campaigning on this issue for a number of months; encouraging businesses to share and report mobile not spots – so that operators can take action to improve reliable coverage for the future.

“Swindon’s future prosperity depends on getting the fundamentals right– and a push for reliable, dependable and consistently improving mobile connectivity is the perfect place to start.”

Ofcom has proposed introducing obligations that require networks to deliver better quality indoor coverage.

An Ofcom spokesman said: “We agree mobile coverage must improve, particularly in rural communities, and we’re working with the Government and the industry to support this.We want mobile companies to extend their networks as a priority, and we’ve announced plans to make them increase coverage for rural areas as we release more airwaves next year.”

Ofcom’s report also measures coverage by geographical area, for someone using their phone outside.

The figures show that more than 90% of the total area of Swindon is covered by all four 4G networks.

A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “We have implemented major changes to planning laws and made it cheaper and easier for the industry to roll out masts.

“But the mobile companies now need to act fast on these reforms and deliver better coverage across the UK, particularly in rural areas.”

The County Land and Business Association is calling on the Government to introduce legally binding targets to force the mobile phone networks to extend 4G coverage to prevent rural areas becoming “a digital wilderness”.

CLA senior economic adviser, Dr Charles Trotman, said: “State of the art coverage will improve productivity of businesses and make them far more profitable.”

Dr Trotman explained that the CLA’s aim is to push for comprehensive and reliable 4G coverage from all four major mobile networks - EE, 3, Virgin and O2.

“Our objective is universal coverage,” he said. “But everything is predicated on the operators themselves to put the infrastructure in place.

“We need to incentivise all operators to branch out, to give consumers more market choice and avoid localised monopolies.”

A spokesman from Mobile UK, which represents the four mobile networks, said: “Huge improvements have been made to mobile coverage in recent years, as a result of the £2 billion invested each year by the industry.

“For this to continue, we need the active co-operation of landowners to provide operators with suitable, cost-effective sites.”