Vodafone Extends 4G Mobile Network to the Archipelago of Orkney

Mobile operator Vodafone has announced that their superfast 4G (LTE) based Mobile Broadband network is being extended to the remote island group of Orkney off the north-eastern coast of Scotland, with homes and businesses in Kirkwall (largest town of 9,000+ people) being among the first to benefit.

On top of that the operator has also announced that their Rural Open Sure Signal (Femtocell) technology, which distributes and boosts outdoor 3G (sadly it doesn’t do 4G) mobile signals by harnessing an areas existing fixed line broadband connectivity, has gone live in the small parish community of St Andrews that is located just east of Kirkwall.

Jorge Fernandes, Vodafone UK’s CTO, said:

“It is great news that Kirkwall has become our latest 4G community. The arrival of 4G will bring faster internet speeds to customers whilst our overall network improvements in the town and across the area will ensure our customers enjoy stronger outdoor and indoor coverage. Local businesses will also be able to react faster to the needs of customers and introduce remote working practices for staff which can help reduce costs and increase productivity.”

As usual Vodafone finishes up their announcement by boasting about how they plan to spend another £2bn over the next three years on improving and expanding the coverage of their new 4G network, although we’d prefer to see is a clearly defined roll-out plan for the rest of Orkney.