POOR phone signal in large parts of Oxford must be sorted out if the city is to become a world-leading high-tech centre of the future, it has been claimed.

New data has revealed significant tranches of the city centre, North Oxford and East Oxford still have weak signal, despite hopes the city could be at the forefront of the new 5G era.

In tomorrow's Budget the Chancellor is expected to announce £160m to develop 5G.

Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) said the 'patchy signal' was a threat to the county's future growth.

The organisation also admitted data speeds were faster in Swindon and High Wycombe and that more needed to be done.

The city council's Liberal Democrat group leader, Andrew Gant, said phone signal needed to be improved as a priority for the city to move forward and embrace the future.

He said: "Independent monitoring shows that phone and wifi coverage is variable in Oxford.

"Anecdotally, everybody knows where they get a good and bad signal in their daily lives.

"We need to address this as Oxford looks to build on its status as a high-tech centre of innovation and continue to attract world-leading research and development.

"This goes to the heart of the drive to make Oxford a modern and forward-looking economy and a centre of sustainable innovation in transport, planning, energy, infrastructure, how we live and work and how we communicate."

Mr Gant also urged the city council to implement free wifi across the city centre – as introduced recently in Norwich.

Oxford recently came 11th in the UK in a 'Smart Cities Index' of how ready cities were for the future and all the technological advancements it will bring.

It was praised for its 'Smart Oxford' programme and tests conducted on driverless cars and other technologies.

But hotelier and businessman Jeremy Mogford said phone signal was the first priority.

He said: "It's totally frustrating and we often have guests complaining about the phone signal when they visit the city, which is a shame, and it's not getting any better.

"It is worst for us at The Old Parsonage Hotel in Banbury Road and we have intermittent problems with card machines there but it is manageable."

Signal is also weak in parts of Eynsham, North Abingdon and Witney, among other towns.

The Oxfordshire Infrastructure Strategy, published by OxLEP and the local authorities, said more phone masts may be needed across the county as demand for faster speeds increased.

The strategy, which could be adopted by Oxfordshire Growth Board later this month, put forward a number of proposals to improve connectivity – for example using satellites to ease the burden on traditional infrastructure such as broadband routers and phone masts.

Oxford's historic centre has in the past proved a barrier to getting planning applications for masts approved.

Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said the city's position in the smart city index showed that progress was being made.

He said: "It is evidence of the great progress that we are making in the Oxford Smart City Partnership to improve the way in which new digital technologies are being applied to support improvements in transport, health and the environment."

OxLEP said it would work with mobile phone companies to ensure better signal across the county by 2019.