The Open RAN mobile sites will be used to provide coverage to the surrounding rural communities
Vodafone has partnered with mobile coverage services specialist Net CS to provide 4G coverage to rural communities around 11 Church of England parish churches across the U.K. Using Open RAN technology, Net CS deployed mobile sites using a neutral host format, so they can be connected to multiple network operators.
Due to their central, and often elevated, location within towns and villages, churches have long been considered a tool for delivering mobile coverage. “This project clearly demonstrates the value of churches as a key part of the nationwide solution to mobile not-spots,” commented Peter Morrell-Brown, chairman, Net CS. “Open RAN has made a lot of these sites viable for the first time, providing new locations that could go a long way towards driving better rural and urban coverage across the country.”
One of the benefits of Open RAN is that is allows for mobile site deployments with smaller footprints, and according to Andrea Dona, Vodafone UK’s network and development director, that is particularly critical in a church deployment so as not to “spoil the appearance of the church.”
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The Blessed Virgin Mary in Brompton Regis, Somerset and St Michael & All Angels in Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire, have already gone live, and the other nine church sites are planned for the coming months.
In May, Vodafone claimed the first urban Open RAN deployment in Europe. The trial was carried out in Torquay and Exmouth, which have a combined population of more than 87,000 people, and achieved peak data rates of 700 Mbps. At the time, Vodafone shared that it is committed to having 30% of all mobile sites in the European Union running on Open RAN technology by 2030.