DORSET is suffering a lack of internet and phone connectivity rated as ‘significant’ according to the project manager for 5G in rural Dorset.

Gary Littledyke said in an online lecture that while the county could boost its economy with better connectivity it was still lagging behind.

He said that the county could gain from the support better connections would bring for the estimated 7,000 people living with dementia by using specialist devices; that farming could be helped by 5G enable technology for monitoring crops and areas of deprivation would gain from being able to better access public services.

He also said the county could become a safer place with technology that could monitor the coastline and offer phone signals in places which are currently impossible, helping the RNLI and marine and coastguard services.

Mr Littledyke said that while the county was currently engaged in a number of hi-tech trials it would still need technology companies to be persuaded that it would be worthwhile to put in the infrastructure needed to improve signals in Dorset. He said that this would not necessarily need more base stations because the new technology could often be bolted on to existing masts, or even buildings.

“But they won’t build unless there is a return for them,” he warned, adding that it might require Government intervention to enable the investment to take place.

He said that the technology could be used to help avoid situations of over-crowding, such as that which happened at Lulworth earlier in the year, with devices able to alert police, the RNLI and the council that a build-up in traffic was beginning to happen and that action might be needed. The same technology could, eventually, link in with car sat’ nav’ systems to warn drivers that areas they planned to travel to were likely to be busy.

The online audience also heard that in some parts of the county 5G could ‘leapfrog’ existing technologies, such as 4G, going directly to the faster service.

Dorset Council is currently considering two planning applications for 5G masts in the Weymouth and Portland areas with operators promising that the service will have the ability to transform the lives of many local businesses and residents.