5G DRIVE and O2 Project Bring Mobile Signals to 31 Rural UK Notspots

Mobile giant O2 (Virgin Media) has announced that, while working alongside the government-backed 5G DRIVE project, they’ve been able to deliver reliable mobile network coverage to 31 “iconic tourist destinations” that were previously “not spots” for mobile signals (i.e. 21 in Wales, 5 in England, and 5 in Scotland).

The 5G DRIVE (aka – Diversified oRAN Integration & Vendor Evaluation) project represents a consortium, including partners such as O2, wavemobile, Cisco, Ori and WMG at the University of Warwick, that is part-funded by the Government (DSIT) and aims to develop a secure Radio Access Network (RAN) connection capability for integrating private and public networks. This is accomplished via the new SEPP N32 (c/f) roaming interface.

The first trials of this solution went live all the way back in mid-2022 (here), but it’s now been developed and successfully rolled out to help bring mobile connectivity to 31 popular tourist destinations across the UK that previously had no cellular or even WiFi coverage. The locations are said to include national parks and famous beauty spots, which are sparsely populated but attract large numbers of visitors.

One of the sites to benefit from this is the picturesque Honister Pass in the Lake District, where the project has installed three cell sites to connect the area. Using satellite broadband connectivity to carry data to and from the mobile cells, the new sites provide the area with access to Wi-Fi, 2G and 4G connectivity for the first time. As well as boosting mobile coverage, this also improves connectivity for reaching the emergency services.

Professor David Owens, Head of Technical Trials at VMO2, said:

“Our pioneering project has delivered reliable mobile connectivity to iconic tourist destinations for the first time. The innovative method of connecting private networks to a public core is a great way to help deal with some of the not-spots that exist across the UK. This rollout will provide visitors to some of the most remote and rural of areas with fast and reliable coverage, while also delivering significant benefits for local communities and businesses.”

Sadly, the announcement doesn’t provide a list of the locations, although it does note that they’ve also used this technology to help bring connectivity to Barra Airport, with the airport now boasting comprehensive internet, Wi-Fi, 2G, 4G, and LoRaWAN services. In terms of those areas that deployed a satellite connection for backhaul capacity, we note that Starlink (SpaceX) was the service they used.