Many Danes in the smaller towns and rural areas continue to experience poor mobile service.

Especially in small towns with less than 1,000 residents and in rural areas, where 23 to 25 percent experience coverage problems.

This past fall, a frequency auction improved mobile coverage for 2,185 households and businesses in rural areas.

Telecommunications expert Thomas Haagendal called it “a step in the right direction”, but believes that too many Danes are still suffering from bad mobile service.

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Mobile coverage a selling point
“Good mobile connections are vital for citizens to be able to access work, school, be in contact with public authorities and personal networks,” Haagendal told Jylland-Posten.

“In addition, it is also a problem that citizens and businesses will choose not to establish themselves in certain areas of Denmark due to poor coverage.”

Steffen Damsgaard, president rural organisation Landdistrikternes Fællesråd, believes that mobile coverage has become a crucial point for people deciding to buy a new home.

“It may well be that people won’t move into a place with poor cellular coverage,” he said. “It can also make it harder to sell a house.”

Damsgaard said it is “simply wrong” that calls are still dropping out in 2017, “especially when the telecommunications industry talks about investing billions into better mobile coverage every year”.