The UK Mobile Phone Blog

O2 News2Know

Living in London? Suffering the recent 3G drought as an O2 customer? Well, O2 has today released news that it is about to rectify this issue.

O2 has reported that due to the on going success with handsets such as BlackBerry’s and Apple iPhones, the traffic experienced on the network has increased a whopping 20 times! No wonder it’s hard to get that 3G connection! O2 states that it is experiencing “pressure where the highest concentration of smartphones” are resulting in hot spots of sub standard coverage, often resulting in dropped calls and poor data connection.

To rectify this, O2 has planned to spend some £30 million on network improvements in and around London alone, before the end of this year. It has also reported that it has secured additional investment in excess of £100 million for 2010. The £30 million spending this year will go towards 35 more sites being built, meaning better reception. O2 also have a team of over 200 people working to deliver a shared network with Vodafone, with a further 100 sites scheduled to be constructed.

O2 have also said that constant monitoring of the network, demand and performance will be in place to ensure maximum capacity and performance at all times. Not a bad response to counter Orange’s bold claim to having the best network coverage.