The 10-site pilot will run along approximately 1km of Queen Victoria Street. It will pass sites such as Bank, Mansion House, the Millennium Bridge and Blackfriars and is expected to be live from October.
Freshwave will be installing or upgrading assets so that they can be used by MNOs, with the shareable infrastructure allowing improved connectivity while minimising the amount of street equipment. Freshwave will use to small cell technology work with the MNOs to deliver an improved user experience for mobile users within the pilot area.
Simon Frumkin, CEO, Freshwave, said, “I’m pleased that we’re partnering with Cornerstone on this prestigious project. The City of London is one of the pre-eminent financial districts in the world and we’re proud to be bringing our leading multi-operator network service expertise to this pilot.”
Denis Coakley, COO, Cornerstone, added, “As a long-standing partner of the City of London Corporation, we’re looking forward to facilitating the next step in the evolution of the City’s connectivity with Freshwave. Deploying the latest technology, in the newest ways, is critical to delivering the cutting-edge connectivity the City deserves.”
If the pilot is successful, the ambition is for a City-wide deployment that will deliver faster mobile connectivity speeds across the Square Mile.