Rural England has worse coverage for mobile telephones and broadband than parts of India and Malawi, according to Stuart Burgess, chairman of the Rural Communities Commission and the Government’s Rural Advocate.

He is pressing Gordon Brown for urgent investment in new technologies in the countryside to secure future economic viability for the remotest regions.

One option may be to introduce new accessibility conditions in the contracts of telecommunications providers to guarantee universal coverage of the systems that urban dwellers take for granted. Another is to offer incentives to rural entrepreneurs.

The need to update communications links for rural England is viewed as a priority for the creation of jobs and to prevent an exodus of young people from the countryside to towns.

The issue is to be a key recommendation in a report to the Prime Minister by Dr Burgess on the state of the rural economy in England, which is due to be finalised early in February. He was asked to prepare the report after last summer’s floods, taking into account the impact on rural communities of foot-and-mouth disease, bluetongue virus and the avian flu strain.

In an interview with The Times, Dr Burgess said: “Broadband is still not accessible and, even where it is, the quality is questionable. For the modern rural economy to develop and grow you need good internet access. We also need to improve the mobile phone coverage.”

He added: “In countries such as India you have good mobile networks.” Unless the issue was addressed by the Government, rural communities could be further disadvantaged. “The current investment plans of the main [communications] providers indicate that many rural businesses and communities could find themselves left behind,” he said.

Mobile phone operators focus on providing coverage to as many people as possible, rather than the greatest area possible, with the result that rural areas with low population densities attract fewer resources, he added.

Dr Burgess has proposed other measures to help people living in isolated parts of the country, such as the creation of a renewal and enterprise council; the building of 11,000 affordable homes each year; the ending of discounts on council tax for second homes; financial support for hill farmers; a national debate on future land use; and “rural proofing” of policies to ensure that rural areas are given fair treatment.

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