Vodafone UK’s Rural Open Sure Signal Brings 3G Mobile to Broad Chalke

Vodafone has announced that their Rural Open Sure Signal (Femtocell) technology has been expanded to help the isolated “not-spot” community of Broad Chalke in Wiltshire (England) to receive a 3G based Mobile Broadband and voice service.

The technology, which harnesses an existing fixed line connection in order to link with Vodafone’s network and boost outdoor mobile coverage, was originally tested with 12 villages in 2011/12 (here) and is now aiming to reach a further 100 communities (here and here).

As with the other upgrades, Broad Chalke has until now suffered from unreliable mobile coverage and slow data speeds, although happily it joins two other Wiltshire communities in being able to benefit from the new technology (Winterslow and Cranborne were also lit up last year).

Jorge Fernandes, Vodafone UK CTO, said:

“I am delighted that Broad Chalke has joined our Rural Open Sure Signal programme. Mobile connectivity is an essential service for communities and businesses to thrive in today’s digital world and support local economies. As part of the Rural Open Sure Signal programme, we are committed to investing in our network to provide access even in remote locations where it is otherwise almost impossible to reach. I am excited to see the transformation for Broad Chalke and other communities which has been successful for this pioneering programme.”

However the operator also notes that a number of their targeted communities, which sadly aren’t named, have had their Rural Open Sure Signal (ROSS) upgrades “postponed until their community broadband speeds and availability have improved“.

The ROSS system requires a high-speed fixed broadband connection in order to work and naturally the operator’s preliminary surveying work has found that some areas are simply too isolated to have one. This was to be expected since the lack of fast fixed line broadband is also a big problem for many rural areas.