Vodafone and EE are adopting different strategies to UK 4G mobile coverage. EE at the close of the year announced an increase of 5.7 million customers for the year and a commitment to improving mobile coverage throughout the UK. Whereas Vodafone has defended its policy to focus on content over increased coverage. Both companies in late 2014 signed the deal with the UK government to ensure MNO's provide comprehensive coverage of the country. At the moment it seems EE is taking the requirement more seriously.
Head of Vodafone UK, Jeroen Hoencamp said:
"It's not about who's got the most coverage, it's more about having the strongest signal and great indoor coverage...
"We could build a network just to achieve massive speeds, but the reality is that you don't need anything beyond 20Mb/s on a mobile device. So we think less about absolute speed and more about using that bandwidth to enable more customers to enjoy great content on the move."
It's estimated at the moment Vodafone's mobile coverage only serves 50 per cent of the UK. EE's own figures boast an 80 per cent mobile coverage of the UK with 1000s of villages and small towns receiving improved coverage in 2014.
High quality 4G mobile data coverage is going to play a fundamental role in the success of mobile solutions and the digital age. It is short sighted to only serve the largest cities in Britain and the more ubiquitous the coverage becomes the more successful and efficient mobile solutions such as payments and security can be. Vodafone and EE are taking different strategies at the moment but hopefully both will contribute to meeting the UK government's target of 90 per cent coverage by 2017.
By Matthew Taylor 12th January 2015
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