Vodafone UK Confirms Isles of Scilly to Get 5G Mobile in July
Mobile operator Vodafone has confirmed that the Isles of Scilly, which sits 45km off the south coast of Cornwall, will join Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and London as being one of the first UK places to benefit from their commercial rollout of 5G mobile broadband technology on 3rd July 2019.
The operator already has a close association with the Isles of Scilly after having launched 4G on St Mary’s in 2016 as part of its rural rollout of the technology. Earlier this year, Vodafone also tested 5G working at “high speeds” in Hugh Town, the island’s administrative centre, and across the football pitch 2km away from the only mast on the island.
As part of their 5G rollout on the isles Vodafone has signed a two-year 5G sponsorship agreement with St Mary’s Association Football Club. The league comprises just two teams, Garrison Gunners and Woolpack Wanderers, who play each around 20 times over a season as well as a number of cup competitions 🙂 .
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The deal will also see the launch of the first ever crowdsourced fan-assisted referee (FAR) system later this year. In addition to live streaming key league games over 5G for the forthcoming season starting in October 2019, Vodafone will also connect supporters elsewhere on the island so they can instantly have a say on key decisions during a game via their mobile phones.
Scott Petty, Vodafone UK CTO, said:
“5G is a game-changer for the Isles of Scilly as it will provide the local community with much improved access to important online services. I’m also delighted that Vodafone is teaming up with the local football club, which brings people together, and by combining it with our technology, we can promote this wonderful archipelago on the world stage.”
End.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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What! Can the UK get more LTE+ coverage first. Don’t care about 5G yet.
Parts of Buckinghamshire are still waiting for 2G to be installed. Might get 5G next century…
5G, exactly where it’s needed! 30 miles off the coast of the mainland!
People on the Isles of Scilly have mobile phones too.
I guess you also didn’t notice this, but the entire island is served by ONE mast according to the story. This is hardly a bank breaking exercise that’s going to soak up thousands of man-hours.
Must admit it does seem like a slightly odd choice but not completely against
I wonder what they have as backhaul here
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/#/submarine-cable/isles-of-scilly-cable
Isles of Scilly Cable
RFS: 2014
Cable Length: 939 km
Owners: BT
With BT Ethernet circuits to get to that fibre. Can’t see there being many other options.
939km? Its only 30 miles off Cornwall. Where and their cabling to: Paris 😉
The original cable was between Porthcurno, Cornwall, and Santander. No longer feasible for the Spain/Ireland/UK traffic but clearly sufficient for Scilly. https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/07/cable-ship-resolute-brings-fibre-optic-broadband-isles-scilly.html
@Mead – the link given by Carl shows the cable to cornwall!
It’s great that at least one MNO is thinking about the rural locations. I think this is a good move.