London's mobile performance plunges to 70th place amid antenna shortages and planning hurdles

Ookla’s latest Q2 2026 report places London at 70th out of 149 cities for median mobile download, upload and idle latency, a sharp decline from its 38th position in Q2 2022 and behind Prague, Hanoi and Kharkiv. Median download speed has risen to 96.08 Mbps and upload to 9.96 Mbps, yet the city’s progress trails global peers. Mobile UK attributes the slowdown to a "perfect storm" of fewer antenna sites due to housing projects and new high-rise construction, causing capacity bottlenecks near major Tube stations and in the West End, City, Westminster and Tower Hamlets.

Mobile operators must remove antennas within 18 months of planning consent and often need two-and-a-half to seven years to secure replacements, leading to temporary fixes. Robert Joyce of O2 warns essential equipment is being removed faster than it can be replaced, while Philip Maguire of Inakalum says the issue is network capacity rather than signal strength. The mayor’s office and the UK government have pledged billions for upgrades and plan to treat mobile connectivity as essential infrastructure, targeting broader 5G coverage by 2030.