New mobile ‘mini-masts’ have been installed by EE on street furniture like lamp-posts and phone boxes in Cardiff to help boost mobile coverage in the busiest areas of the city.
The Welsh capital is one of a number of cities in the UK to introduce the new masts which help improve mobile coverage in very busy areas and during major events.
The mini antennas, known as small cells, offer performance boosts in high-demand areas thanks to their size, which makes them easy to install on everyday street infrastructure including BT’s iconic red phone kiosks and digital street hubs, as well as lampposts and other furniture.
In Cardiff EE has worked with partners to deploy six small cells to boost capacity in busy locations in the city including Queen Street, St David’s Shopping centre and on Wood Street opposite the Principality Stadium.
EE has now deployed more than 1,000 small cells across the UK, marking 400 new deployments over the last 12 months including its first 5G sites.
Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer, BT Group, said:
“Small cells are an integral component within our mobile network, ensuring that even in the busiest places our customers have access to the full performance of the UK’s best network.
“To reach 1,000 deployments across the UK, including our first 5G sites, demonstrates our commitment to delivering unrivalled mobile connectivity to all four corners of the UK.”
EE uses advanced network analytics to identify specific locations which would benefit from the performance boost enabled by a small cell. It then works with partners Nokia and Ericsson to deploy the solution itself, reducing congestion and enabling customers to benefit from speeds of up to 300Mbps for 4G cells, and 600Mbps for 5G
