Food waste trucks will test out mobile signals

Food refuse trucks are being used to test mobile phone coverage across Cornwall to survey where coverage is at its best and where it is still patchy.

Cornwall Council said it had commissioned surveyors to map phone coverage using the fleet of food waste collection trucks as they visited all parts of the county's road network this summer.

Tim Dwelly, council's portfolio holder for economy, regeneration and investment, said the trucks "will be able to gather real-world data, including 4G and 5G availability, download and upload speeds and network-specific performance".

He said: "It will identify areas experiencing poor mobile connectivity across the major network operators."

The trucks will be fitted with gadgets to measure the mobile coverage and results from the survey are expected in the early autumn.

Dwelly said the information "will help us identify areas suffering from digital exclusion and enable us to advocate for investment and improvements where the need is greatest".

George Gibson, partnerships director at Streetwave, which is doing the survey, said predicted mobile coverage could paint "a more optimistic picture than the reality".

Nick Seviour, general manager of Cornwall for Biffa, which operates the trucks, said it was "a simple but effective way to gather information from right across the county".

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.