Vodafone Claims Gatwick Has their Fastest UK 4G Mobile Airport Speeds

Mobile operator Vodafone has claimed that a major upgrade of their fibre optic and mobile infrastructure means that Gatwick Airport now has the “most reliable” and “fastest” 4G based Mobile Broadband speeds of any UK airport within their coverage. Speeds of up to 200Mbps are said to be possible.

The operator said that a major in-building modernisation programme across Gatwick Airport’s North and South terminals, which saw 300 new mobile antennas and 46kms of fibre optic cabling being installed, has resulted in the claimed service improvement.

Some 45 million passengers use Gatwick each year and that number is set to increase. Anybody familiar with the often sorry state of public WiFi in the airport (here) will no doubt be pleased at news of the enhancement, although it’s only of benefit to Vodafone’s customers.

Jorge Fernandes, Vodafone UK’s CTO, said:

“Gatwick Airport had the foresight to invite us in at an early stage of their major development work so that we could install an integrated mobile network to match its world-class facilities whilst minimising any disruption to passengers and employees. Our latest improvements will ensure all our customers using Gatwick can rely on us to stay connected from the minute they can switch on their mobile devices.”

The surrounding network outside the terminals has also been upgraded to provide better coverage across all aircraft hangers, runways, car parks and other transport links. The improvements will support more than 250 companies situated on the airport campus, whose 24,000 employees depend on mobile communications to do their jobs.

However other operators have also been making upgrades to airports around the country and we don’t yet know if Vodafone’s upgrade is enough to beat EE, which according to one study from last year appeared to have a commanding performance lead (here).