EE devotes some of its new 700 MHz spectrum to indoor 5G

UK mobile operator EE has announced it will be using at least part of the low frequency spectrum it won at auction earlier this year to improve its 5G indoor coverage.

At this preliminary stage that amounts to just 50 sites but presumably there will be a lot more before long. 5G over mid-band frequencies is fine so long as there’s a fairly unimpeded line-of-site connection between base station and device. For penetrating walls and that sort of thing you can’t beat low frequency spectrum, which is where the 700 MHz comes in.

“We’ve got big ambitions for 5G connectivity in the next decade, and this is the latest milestone in our journey to provide our customers with unrivalled connectivity,” said David Salam, Director of Mobile Networks at EE. “This next stage of our 5G rollout will enable our customers to enjoy even better 5G, keeping them connected to the things that are most important to them.”

The rest of the press release was spent on generic corporate chest beating, going on about how great EE’s network is and that sort of thing. Not so great, it should be noted, that it has been able to deliver indoors prior to now, but EE is hardly alone in that respect. EE’s coverage checker indicates very patchy indoor 5G coverage right now and, with 4G just fine for most uses, you have to wonder how much it’s prepared to spend on significantly improving that.