The latest step in EE’s mission to blanket the UK with 5G has been to install 80 small cells across the City of Westminster.
These small cells – which EE worked with Ontix to install – deliver 4G and 5G coverage across a smaller area than a mast, with coverage from a single cell typically being 100 metres or less. But the advantage is that as the name suggests these are small, so they can be installed on lampposts, phone boxes, and other existing street furniture.
In this case they were deployed on lampposts, and were painted to blend in, so they don’t detract from the urban landscape.
EE states that it used a targeted approach to the deployment, placing these small cells in specific, high-demand areas, where they’ll improve capacity and therefore reliability in Westminster.
A busy urban environment
Boosting capacity here is important, as Westminster is home to over 50,000 businesses and sees visits from more than 25 million tourists each year. So a lot of people rely on mobile connectivity there, and with so many people connecting at once, networks will need a lot of capacity to ensure the network remains reliable and fast.
James Hope, Director of Mobile Radio Access Networks at EE, said: “This innovative small cell deployment with Ontix enhances 4G and 5G mobile connectivity for EE customers across the City of Westminster, one of London’s busiest areas serving not only as the centre of UK government but also a focal point for tourism and business.
“This project is the latest milestone in our network densification efforts as we continue to boost mobile capacity where it’s needed most across the UK.”
So this is just one of many network upgrades from EE, but it was likely a well targeted one, since it was recently found that 5G performance in London is worse than in other UK cities.
Of course, EE isn’t the only network to be boosting its infrastructure – or making use of small cells, as Three, Vodafone, and O2 are all focused on improving their 5G and 4G networks too.
