EE has now deployed more than 1,000 small cells across the UK, marking 400 new deployments over the last 12 months, including its first 5G sites recently installed in Croydon.
Small cells are miniature mobile masts which provide performance boosts in high-demand areas due to their size, which makes them easy to install on everyday street infrastructure including BT’s red phone kiosks and digital street hubs, as well as lampposts and other furniture.
In the last year, EE has expanded its 4G small cell estate to towns and cities including Cardiff, Dundee, Luton, Norwich and Stoke-on-Trent, as well as continuing to improve capacity in summer hotspots such as Torbay and Cumbria.
Elsewhere, EE’s first 5G small cells are also now live as part of a trial taking place in the London Borough of Croydon. Seven sites, including four along Croydon’s London Road – a busy thoroughfare lined with businesses, shops and homes – are now supporting the local community, seeing over 3TB of traffic each day.
EE uses advanced network analytics to identify specific locations which would benefit from the performance boost enabled by a small cell. It then works with partners Nokia and Ericsson to deploy the solution itself, reducing congestion and enabling customers to benefit from speeds of up to 300Mbps for 4G cells, and 600Mbps for 5G. EE combines licenced 1800MHz and 2600Mhz spectrum with unlicensed 5GHz spectrum in its 4G small cells, which helps to deliver high capacity and speeds. The new 5G cells in Croydon are configured with licensed 1800MHz spectrum for 4G and 3.5GHz for 5G.
Greg McCall, chief networks officer, BT Group, said, “Small cells are an integral component within our mobile network, ensuring that even in the busiest places our customers have access to the full performance of the UK’s best network. To reach 1,000 deployments, including our first 5G sites, demonstrates our commitment to delivering unrivalled mobile connectivity to all four corners of the UK.”
Jason Perry, executive mayor of Croydon, said, “This is great news for Croydon – we’re delighted to be the first town in the UK to be trialling 5G small cells with EE, bringing the latest mobile connectivity to our borough. These 5G small cells will improve the network capacity in high-usage areas, giving faster download speeds for our residents, businesses and visitors.”