Press Release | 31 May 2015

VODAFONE BIRD BOX PROVIDES VILLAGE TWEETERS WITH MOBILE BOOST

Vodafone UK has developed an innovative mini antenna made to look like a bird nesting box in order to provide customers with improved indoor mobile coverage in rural areas without ruining the aesthetic appearance of a building or cottage.

Vodafone UK has developed an innovative mini antenna made to look like a bird nesting box in order to provide customers with improved indoor mobile coverage in rural areas without ruining the aesthetic appearance of a rural building or cottage.

Developed in conjunction with NET Coverage Solutions – a leading UK telecommunications consultant and systems integrator – the Vodafone bird box works by picking up a signal from the nearest mobile mast and boosting it to offer greater indoor coverage. The Vodafone bird box is currently being tested in a garden in Wiltshire.

Pedro Santos, Vodafone UK’s lead technical engineer, who installed the system, said: “We take great care about the visual impact our systems have on the beautiful country side. A standard external mobile antenna can look out of place situated on or near a rural cottage so we are always looking at clever ways to ensure they blend in to the surroundings. The Vodafone bird box is working well and no birds have been sufficiently fooled to try to get in to it, although the customer says it looks very convincing.”

Vodafone UK is continually working on innovative ways to enhance outdoor and indoor mobile coverage for customers in remote communities or in areas of outstanding natural beauty. The company is rolling out its Rural Open Sure Signal (ROSS) service to up to 100 rural communities in order to provide local inhabitants with reliable mobile access for the first time in their village or hamlet. No bigger than a cereal box, the ROSS system, for example, has been adapted to blend into the exterior stone walls of pubs.

Also, Vodafone network engineers recently built a special mobile installation in London complete with nesting box and walkway to avoid disturbing nesting peregrine falcons which are protected by law.

Note to editors

The Vodafone bird box is a bespoke design and uses mobile coverage repeater technology, which boosts the mobile signal to provide enhanced coverage indoors as well as throughout small rural communities. The bird box itself does not allow birds to nest inside but has been designed to blend into a country building.

About New Edge Telecom (NET)

Formed in 2003, NET’s Special Coverage Division is one of the largest in-building mobile coverage consultants and systems integrators in the UK. It also provides macro network coverage sites through its long standing partnerships with the Canal & River Trust and the Church of England.

NET has extensive expertise offering the full range of special network coverage and macro design and deployment services across the UK, the Middle East and Southern Europe.

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.

Vodafone UK Media Relations

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Email: ukmediarelations@vodafone.com

Twitter: @VodafoneUKNews

Website: https://vodafone.co.uk/newscentre/

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