Magdalene to Help EE and Three UK Deliver New Mobile Sites

Infrastructure firm Magdalene (part of M Group Services) has signed a new 5 year deal to help develop and upgrade 4G / 5G mobile sites (e.g. Masts) for Mobile Broadband Network Ltd (MBNL), which is the Joint Venture between Three UK and EE (BT) that is responsible for the management and deployment of their shared sites.

Under the terms of the agreement, Magdalene will support the delivery of MBNL’s Notice to Quit (NTQ) and Towers & Antennas (T&A) operations. For NTQ the company will be expected to ensure network coverage is maintained throughout the transition between site decommissioning and the sourcing and deployment of a replacement site.

Magdalene will also provide end-to-end services to support MBNL’s T&A programme, which includes upgrades, new build and construct only workstreams across an estate of 21,000 UK urban and rural mast sites. The delivery of both projects is scheduled to begin in January 2020.

Paul Brewster, Magdalene Head of Mobile, said:

“We are delighted to embark on this new agreement with MBNL. This framework agreement demonstrates Magdalene’s evolving mobile infrastructure service strategy and our expertise and experience in delivering essential telecom infrastructure roll-outs will be instrumental in our support of this important network improvement programme.

Magdalene will support MBNL’s NTQ programme, managing the removal of former sites from the network, as well as the acquisition, design and build of suitable replacement host sites through the deployment process working with all stakeholders including local authorities and site providers.

MBNL’s fast-paced T&A programme presents another, equally exciting opportunity for Magdalene. Delivering this programme of work will call upon our experience, flexibility, and speed of response as MBNL builds new infrastructure or upgrades existing assets to meet the growing technology and capacity demands of EE and Three customers.”

We’re likely to see a lot of this sort of activity between the rollout of 5G and the new £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) plan, which won’t just result in new masts / sites being built but may also cause the removal of some unnecessary sites.