EE 'fills in' 12,000 square km of 4G notspots

EE added 12,000 square kilometres of the UK’s landmass to its 4G network in the past 12 months, including some parts of the country that have never had any mobile coverage at all.

The BT-owned operator has committed to delivering coverage to 95 percent of the UK’s geographic area by the end of the decade. This will help power the £1 billion LTE-based Emergency Services Network (ESN).

Critical

As part of this drive, EE upgraded more than 4,000 existing sites to 4G over the past year and built 105 entirely new sites. New areas include locations in the Scottish Highlands and Islands and 200 emergency calls have been taken in areas that had never had a mobile service.

EE plans to build a further 350 sites to help connect even more mobile ‘notspots’ and reach its 95 percent target. At the end of 2017, EE could provide a 4G signal to 90 percent of the UK’s geographic area and has the best coverage of any UK mobile operator.

The company is keen to stress that its investment will cover all four constituent nations of the UK, noting that its geographic coverage in Scotland surpassed 75 percent at the end of 2017.

“Our customers need a 4G connection wherever they go,” said Marc Allera, EE CEO. “We’ve added an enormous amount of coverage in the last year, upgrading existing sites and building completely new ones to keep our customers connected in more places than ever before.

“Mobile coverage is critical to consumers and businesses and can provide a lifeline for those in need of support from the emergency services – that’s why we keep focusing on filling in more mobile not-spots across Britain.”