O2 has announced it will invest £700m in its mobile network this yearas part of its ongoing Mobile Transformation Plan, targeting improved reliability, capacity and coverage across the UK.
The funding comes as mobile data demand continues to surge, with traffic on O2’s network more than doubling over the past five years.
The operator said the latest investment will focus on strengthening performance in high-demand locations such as railways, major roads, stadiums and city centres, as well as addressing historic rural “not-spots”.
The investment will support a broad range of upgrades, including the installation of new masts and small cells, the transfer and redeployment of spectrum across 4G and 5G networks, and the rollout of 1,000 Giga Sites nationwide.
O2 said these Giga Sites combine multiple spectrum bands and technologies within a single location to increase capacity and deliver stronger and more reliable coverage across wider areas.
O2 added that it also continue expanding its 5G+ standalone network, which now reaches 87 per cent of the UK population and more than 700 towns and cities.
The operator claims this represents the largest 5G standalone footprint in the country and said it will move more customers onto the network to provide faster speeds, lower
In parallel, O2 said it is also investing in its core network infrastructure, migrating more services into advanced cloud-native data centres.
The operator said the shift towards software-driven automation will enable faster deployment of new services, greater scalability and improved resilience.
“Our Mobile Transformation Plan is all about building a network that customers can rely on wherever they are and whenever they need it, said Jeanie York, chief technology officer at Virgin Media O2. “By continuing to invest in new infrastructure, deploying additional spectrum and embracing greater automation, we are creating the stronger, smarter network that our customers need.”
