EE UK Extends 4G Mobile Coverage to Over 1,500 Rural Areas

Broadband and mobile operator EE (BT) has today revealed that, as part of their commitment under the industry-led £1bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) project, they’ve expanded (built or upgraded) their “fast and reliable” 4G mobile network to over 1,500 remote sites across the United Kingdom (up from 500 in Dec 2022).

The SRN is an industry-led scheme – supported by a public investment of £500m and £530m from all four primary operators (EE, O2, Vodafone and Three UK) – that aims to help extend geographic 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by the end of 2025 (it may also help the 5G rollout). The scheme involves both the reciprocal sharing of existing masts in certain areas and the demand-led building and sharing of new masts in others between the operators.

We should add that the 95% SRN target is only when service is available from at least one operator, while the UK coverage forecast for SRN completion for all operators (i.e. geographic areas where you’ll be able to take 4G from all four operators) is actually just 84% for the same date.

Having signed the SRN deal in March 2020, EE has now delivered more than 2,000 square miles of additional 4G connectivity to rural areas across each of the four UK nations. This equates to a size greater than nine times that of the Isle of Man. One of the latest areas to benefit includes Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands and the nearby villages along the River Moriston – the largest single SRN upgrade EE has delivered to date (pictured – top).

EE customers in rural areas have already used the SRN 4G upgrades to download more than 30TB of data, with villages including Tumble in Carmarthenshire, Wales, and Mount in Warleggan, Cornwall proving to be some of the most data-hungry places.

The upgrades are also helping customers to stay connected to friends, family, and local businesses using voice calls, with Alvechurch in Worcestershire and Glynneath in South Wales generating some of the highest levels of 4G voice traffic across EE’s SRN locations.

Philip Jansen, CEO of BT Group, said:

“Today marks a major achievement for the Shared Rural Network, with EE becoming the first operator to bring 4G to a further 1,500 remote locations across the UK. From farming and fishing to hospitality and tourism, Britain’s countryside communities are vital to the success of the wider economy and BT Group’s huge investment into our mobile network infrastructure is delivering the connectivity boost local people and businesses need.”

While the SRN doesn’t specifically require ultrafast 5G kit to be deployed, the infrastructure they’re building can often still be used to support it. All of this should thus help with EE’s ambition to deliver 5G connectivity solutions anywhere in the UK by 2028 – through a combination of permanent coverage (90% of the UK’s landmass) and on-demand solutions (to tackle the final 10%).