The collaboration between Moray, Highland and Aberdeenshire councils will involve fleets of bin lorries being fitted with devices that collect mobile phone data, helping to pinpoint areas with reduced signal, network speed and coverage.

To ensure comprehensive data is collected, the lorries will travel roughly 10,000 miles of roads, providing ‘thorough coverage of addresses in the three council areas’.

The scheme will gather data about mobile phone user experiences under four UK providers: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone, which residents and businesses will then be able to access through Streetwave, a mobile coverage checking tool.

The councils plan to use the data to ‘guide improvements’ and digital connectivity solutions, whilst empowering mobile users to ‘make better informed choices’ about their choice of provider.

Cllr Alan Turner, Aberdeenshire Council’s Infrastructure Services Committee Chair, said: ‘Acquiring this real-world, accurate data will help to provide evidence for further investment into digital connectivity programmes that will service and support residents, businesses, and communities.’

Neil Rutherford, who leads the Digital Connectivity team at the Scottish Futures Trust, added: ‘Using bin lorries that already travel across our roads into all communities is a practical way of collecting reliable mobile data. […] It’s only by having the right data and the right digital tools can we work together to truly connect all of Scotland.’

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