VMO2 has switched on its 500th ‘Giga Site’ as part of a £700 million Mobile Transformation Plan to upgrade mobile connectivity across the UK.
The latest site to go live is in North Elgin, joining hundreds of upgraded locations in towns and cities across the UK.
Giga Sites are O2’s most advanced mobile sites, merging the latest network technologies to deliver faster speeds, improved coverage and increased capacity.
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By combining low, mid and high-band spectrum with Massive MIMO technology, these new sites are created to prov ide a more reliable service for customers using their devices for remote working, AI-powered services, gaming and streaming.
According to the technology giant, each new site provides significantly more capacity than previous infrastructure, helping more people stay connected in busy locations where networks are under increasing pressure.
The 500th site marks the halfway point in O2’s ambition to roll out 1,000 Giga Sites nationwide this year, with the company revealing that the investment is helping to future-proof its network as mobile usage grow and continues.
Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) Chief Technology Officer, Jeanie York, said: “Reaching 500 Giga Sites is a major milestone in the transformation of our mobile network.
“As customers use more data than ever before, these cutting-edge sites are helping us add capacity where it’s needed most and deliver a faster, more reliable experience across the UK.
“We’re not slowing down, with more towns and cities set to benefit throughout the year as we continue investing around £2 million per day in our mobile network.”
VMO2 CEO calls for action to strengthen UK fibre competition
The rollout comes as Virgin Media O2 CEO, Lutz Schüler recently called for further action to strengthen competition in the UK telecoms market, warning that the fibre sector needs consolidation to create a stronger challenger to BT’s Openreach network.
In a blog post, he said: “Even with billions of pounds of investment over the past decade, the UK’s fibre landscape is now more fragmented and unstable than ever, with around 100 struggling alternative networks, many backers looking for the fire exit and still no national-scale alternative to BT’s Openreach.
“While the green shoots of meaningful competition are starting to emerge, it’s clear the next stage of the UK’s fibre story will be about consolidation to improve economics and create a genuine challenger to the incumbent. That will result in proper network choice at scale for other operators and in turn better services for consumers and businesses.”
He added: “The UK telecoms industry faces a fundamental choice – keep the status quo of a BT Openreach network monopoly or ensure this dominance is broken once and for all. While it’s good to talk, now is the time for action.”
