Press Release | 08 Jan 2014

EUROTUNNEL COMPLETES THE MOBILE TELEPHONY OFFER IN CHANNEL TUNNEL,100 METRES BELOW SEA LEVEL

Eurotunnel and the British mobile telephone operators EE (formed following the merger of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK) and Vodafone have today signed a 10 year agreement to offer mobile services in the Channel Tunnel. Customers of both operators will have access to 2G1 and 3G2 services in the North Tunnel (UK to France)3. Both EE and Vodafone intend to offer 4G data services throughout the tunnel in the future.

This will enable passengers of both Le Shuttle and high speed passenger trains to use their mobile phone or tablet device at any point of the journey through the Channel Tunnel. The quality of communication will be equivalent to a call made in Paris, London or anywhere above ground.

Providing such a wireless service 100 metres below sea level for the 20 million passengers who travel through the world’s longest undersea tunnel each year is a first. In order to deliver this service, Eurotunnel and its partners have overcome a series of technical challenges: the work was conducted without disruption to railway traffic, in a confined environment under stringent safety conditions.

Eurotunnel has equivalent agreements with the French mobile operators, Bouygues Telecom, Orange and SFR which cooperated for the successful installation of GSM-P services in the South Running Tunnel in 2012.

Eurotunnel’s ambition to continually improve the service it offers to its customers has brought an answer to the increasing need for connectivity on the move.

For UK media enquiries at Eurotunnel Contact:
John Keefe on + 44 (0) 1303 284491
Email: press@eurotunnel.com

For investor enquiries at Eurotunnel contact::
Michael Schuller on +44 (0) 1303 288749
Email: Michael.schuller@eurotunnel.com

Vodafone Press Contact:
For media enquiries contact the Vodafone UK Media Relations team on +44 (0) 1635 666 777 Email: ukmediarelations@vodafone.com
EE Press Contact :
Howard Jones : +44 75 00 849 738 Email : howard.jones@ee.co.uk

1. GSM 90, DCS 1800
2. UMTS 2100
3. The mobile service will go live in the North Running Tunnel – UK to France – in March this year.

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About Vodafone UK

Vodafone UK is a technology communications company that connects people, businesses and devices to help our customers benefit from digital innovation. Our services span mobile, fixed-line connections, home and office broadband, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

We have a strong track record as a tech pioneer, making the UK’s first mobile phone call, sending the first text message, and making the UK’s first live holographic call using 5G in 2018. We were the first to start carrying live 5G traffic from a site in Salford, Greater Manchester and now have 5G in locations across Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain as well as the UK. Meanwhile, our 4G network coverage currently reaches over 99% of the UK population.

Today, Vodafone serves more than 18 million mobile and fixed-line customers in the UK. Vodafone is the largest provider of full fibre in the UK – our superfast broadband services are now available to nearly 12 million homes across the UK.

Sustainability is also at the heart of what we do: as of 1 July 2021, 100% of the grid electricity we use in the UK is certified to be from renewable sources.

For more information about Vodafone UK, please visit: www.vodafone.co.uk.

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