South Shropshire MP Philip Dunne held a meeting with EE last week to discuss concerns over poor mobile signal across the county. Mr Dunne recently surveyed households across the Ludlow Constituency to find out the strength of local mobile signals.
He said many local residents had complained of poor or unreliable mobile signal strength.
Mr Dunne said “In my recent surveys, and from personal experience, it is clear some areas of the Ludlow Constituency face weak or unreliable mobile signal service. So I called this meeting with EE to present my findings and ask what steps they are taking to resolve poor signal across South Shropshire.
I have asked for coverage maps displaying the impact of removing masts which duplicated coverage when Orange and T-Mobile merged, which has reduced the number of areas of strong signal in the Ludlow Constituency.
Last month EE announced their commitment to connect over 1,500 rural communities in the next three years through the rollout of their micro network technology, which requires no broadband or cables.
This new technology was something we discussed at our meeting, and I am sending EE my survey analysis showing areas of weak or no mobile coverage to seek prioritisation during the rollout. I have also argued for Shropshire to be the next pilot area, after Cumbria.”
The EE rural micro network solution does not need any fixed broadband to connect into the wider network, meaning it can be deployed in more remote areas. The micro network can connect communities of around 100-150 homes and businesses, across an area of 0.5 square miles with just three or four small antennas. An antenna can be installed on to any building in just a few hours, and planning applications are not required. The unique, low impact solution is based on technology designed by Parallel Wireless, and will be in full deployment in early 2015.
Rural areas can now be covered at lower cost by using smaller mobile sites that communicate with each other to spread coverage and capacity, and using wireless technology instead of cables to connect into the main EE network.