EE Pledge to Improve Mobile Internet and Voice Coverage in Shropshire

Mobile operator EE has apologised to some of Shropshire’s residents after many locals, especially those in rural areas, complained of worsening coverage following the merger between T-Mobile and Orange UK several years ago.

The good news is that £150m from EE’s planned £1.5bn network upgrade has already been earmarked to fill “notspots” across the United Kingdom and this will also benefit many of the related areas in Shropshire.

A spokesperson for EE told a joint Shropshire Council committee meeting in Edgeton that most of the regional problems were down to old equipment and that the network actually had larger coverage in the area than before, although this differs from what several attendants had to say (here).

Gareth Hewlett, EE’s Head of Customer Networks in Shropshire, said:

“There has been increased usage and people are becoming more and more reliant on their mobiles. In areas like this we look to build extra antennas, but in some cases it’s just not possible. But there is an ability to increase coverage further and that is something we need to work on.

We inherited old equipment and now we’re going through it all and replacing it.”

Leaving aside the interesting remark about “inheriting” old equipment, EE said that they hoped to have the “investment and everything” in place by 2015.