EE’s coverage boost in North Yorkshire

Mobile coverage in rural parts of North Yorkshire has been significantly improved after EE revealed today it has upgraded or built more than 40 masts in the county in the last two years.

Five masts have been upgraded in recent months to bring enhanced 4G mobile connectivity to the villages of Chapel-le-Dale, Rievaulx, Blubberhouses, Danby Wiske and Terrington, enhancing connectivity for residents, visitors, local businesses and the emergency services.

Scenic tourist sites like Fewston Reservoir and Ingleborough Mountain – including large parts of the popular Yorkshire Three Peaks route – now have reliable 4G coverage as part of these upgrades. The upgrades also cover transport routes including the A59, A167, B1257, and parts of the East Coast Main Line railway.

The improved coverage has been welcomed by North Yorkshire MP Kevin Hollinrake and by a local photographer and prominent outdoor blogger who says that mobile connectivity is now an important factor for hillwalkers, including for use in emergencies and for sharing photos and videos of the iconic landscape.

North Yorkshire is England’s largest county, 85 per cent of which is classed as rural or super sparse, and contains two national Parks, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors.  To balance the desire for improved mobile connectivity in rural communities with the need to respect the natural landscape, efforts have been made to situate the sleek and compact mobile masts in non-intrusive areas, while providing maximum benefit to the places where people live, work and travel.

Most of the masts have been built or upgraded by EE as part of the Shared Rural Network (SRN)*, a £1 billion initiative to extend 4G connectivity to rural communities, with the aim to cover 95 percent of the UK’s landmass by the end of 2025.