EE has harnessed existing street furniture, including parent company BT’s phone boxes, to deploy 200 new small mobile cells to its network and boost coverage for customers.
Small cells are mobile radio cells which help to provide better coverage at street level where it may be impractical to build larger sites. Suitable sites are being identified in partnership with Nokia by using advanced network analytics to identify areas where the cells will boost network performance.
The cells are already live in parts of Leeds, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Scarborough with hundreds more due to be deployed in the next 18 months.
David Salam, Director of Mobile Networks, EE:“EE has been the number one network for eight years running and we are committed to maintaining the best possible customer experience.
“Investment and innovation are the key to consistent network improvement and this partnership with Nokia, to deploy small cells to support our 4G – and in the future, 5G – network, is a new solution to maintain our network leadership in the UK.”
Mark Atkinson, SVP, Radio Access Networks PLM at Nokia: “We are proud to partner with EE to realise the deployment of high-capacity small cells across the UK.
“Nokia’s extensive portfolio of outdoor and indoor small cells provides premium 4G and 5G performance in dense urban and in-building environments.
“EE customers will enjoy the very best 4G and 5G network connectivity regardless of location and we look forward to supporting this journey.”
