Britain has worse mobile internet coverage than Romania, Albania and Peru and suffers from vast “digital deserts”, a report has found.

A new investigation by the Government’s National Infrastructure Commission has found that 80 per cent of rural premises are in a “not-spot” for 4G coverage.

The Commission found that the UK is in 54th position in global rankings for 4G, with typical users able to access the service only 53 per cent of the time.

It warned that Britain is "languishing in the digital slow lane" and that even major city centres are lacking coverage.

The NIC, which is chaired by former Labour Cabinet member Lord Adonis, called on the Government to step in to ensure that basic talk, text and data services are available to all Britons, wherever they live, work and travel, and to make the country ready for next-generation 5G communications.