Small cells are compact mobile masts that enhance performance in high-demand areas and thanks to their size, they can be installed on everyday street infrastructures including BT’s red phone boxes, digital street hubs, lampposts and other street furniture.
In the last year, the telecoms giant expanded its 4G small cell network to towns and cities like Cardiff, Dundee, Luton, Norwich and Stoke-on-Trent, while also boosting capacity in popular summer destinations like Torbay and Cumbria.
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Meanwhile, EE’s first 5G small cells are now live as a trial in the Croydon area.
As a result, seven sites, including four along Croydon’s London Road are now serving the community, handling over 3TB of data daily.
The telecoms giant, which uses advanced network analytics to identify areas that would benefit from small cells, has partnered with Nokia and Ericsson to deploy these cells to reduce congestion and offer speeds of up to 300Mbps for 4G and 600Mbps for 5G.
As a result, the new 5G cells in Croydon use licensed 1800MHz spectrum for 4G and 3.5GHz for 5G.
BT Group, chief networks officer, Greg McCall, 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.”
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