(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/DNY59)
BT, the UK’s major broadband provider, has confirmed plans to acquire the country’s largest mobile network. The move could be a significant step toward reducing mobile “not spots” — locations where residents experience limited or no mobile connectivity.
Earlier this week the UK government released a map of public digital infrastructure to help address those coverage gaps. The report highlights the scale of public spending on digital infrastructure—at least £1.5 billion annually—but also confirms that delivering services to rural and remote areas remains a persistent challenge.
Ed Vaizey, Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy, said: “This report will be instrumental in driving savings whilst ensuring value for money and improvements to digital infrastructure are maximised.”
A femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station typically designed for use in a home or small business to boost local mobile coverage.
BT is uniquely positioned in the UK telecoms market: it is contractually required to provide a telephone service to every home, which over decades has resulted in an extensive copper network. Much of BT’s fibre rollout uses FTTC (Fibre-to-the-Cabinet), which relies on existing copper for the final connection into homes.
With more than seven million broadband subscribers, many using BT’s Home Hub routers, BT could use its existing customer base and fixed-line footprint to expand mobile coverage. While new hardware would be necessary, BT could roll out Home Hub devices equipped with femtocell technology to support improved mobile reception in rural areas following the EE acquisition.
Femtocells operate by creating a small, localized cellular signal using a home’s broadband connection, which can significantly improve indoor voice and data service where outdoor coverage is weak.
EE already has the broadest mobile network coverage among UK operators and has invested heavily to maintain its lead. Formed from the merger of T-Mobile and Orange, EE pledged to connect more than 1,500 rural communities within three years through investment in small cells and other coverage extensions.
Demand for mobile data is rising rapidly. Cisco published a report this week predicting that Wi‑Fi offload will handle a large share of traffic by 2017 to help networks cope with a projected sevenfold increase in mobile data traffic between 2014 and 2019, and an almost tenfold growth globally over a similar timeframe.
Doug Webster, Vice President of Products and Solutions Marketing at Cisco, commented: “The ongoing adoption of more powerful mobile devices and wider deployments of emerging M2M applications, combined with broader access to faster wireless networks, will be key contributors to significant mobile traffic growth in the coming years.” He added that this mobile-centric environment will pose both challenges and opportunities for service providers as the Internet of Everything continues to develop.
BT is also collaborating with Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) to apply public funds where the commercial case for investment is weakest. Under the BDUK programme, more than one million premises now have access to superfast fibre broadband, with projects currently passing roughly 40,000 premises each week.
Debate continues about the best way to allocate public investment between urban and rural broadband. Yesterday we reported that the head of Virgin Media Business argued against diverting more inner-city investment to rural areas, responding to an EFRA (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) report that described current funding distribution as “greatly unbalanced.”
Will the BT and EE partnership reduce mobile “not spots” across the UK? Share your thoughts in the comments.