How street lights are improving mobile coverage in Deeside
The first O2 4G and 5G small cell sites in North Wales are now live in Flintshire, marking a step forward in mobile connectivity for residents, businesses and visitors.
Four small cell sites have been installed across the county, including at Deeside Industrial Park, one of the UK’s largest industrial clusters and in Queensferry.
The sites are already improving mobile capacity in areas where demand is high and traditional masts are less suitable.
Small cells are compact radio units mounted on existing street furniture such as lighting columns.
The Flintshire sites have been delivered by infrastructure provider Ontix on behalf of O2.
The deployment has been made possible through support from Flintshire County Council, which provided access to its streetlighting columns for the equipment.
The work forms part of the 4G+ digital project led by Ambition North Wales, which has supported councils across the region to introduce ‘Open Access Agreements’.
These agreements allow telecommunications companies to use public sector assets to improve mobile coverage.
Under the approach, councils can make infrastructure such as lighting columns available to multiple operators, helping extend coverage in a cost-effective way while reducing the need for additional street furniture.
Cllr Mark Pritchard, Chair of Ambition North Wales, said: “This deployment marks an important milestone for North Wales. By enabling councils to open up their infrastructure to mobile operators, we’re helping create the conditions for better, more reliable connectivity across the region. Improved digital connectivity underpins our region’s ambitions for growth, innovation, and thriving local communities.”
Councillor Richard Jones, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transformation, Growth and Place at Flintshire County Council, said: “The Council welcomes this investment by O2 and Ontix and is pleased to have worked with them and with Ambition North Wales to make public assets available to improve mobile connectivity, a first for North Wales.”
Richard Williams, Director of Acquisition at Ontix, said: “Deeside is one of Europe’s largest industrial parks and it is a thriving hub of industry and innovation. By boosting vital network connectivity today, O2 and Ontix are supporting the growth of UK industries tomorrow.”
Steven Verigotta, Director of Mobile Delivery at Virgin Media O2, said: “Our Mobile Transformation plan is all about ensuring our customers receive a reliable network experience in the moments that matter most. These new small cells will provide extra capacity to the growing Deeside Industrial Park, providing a boost to the businesses based there and to the local economy.”
Ambition North Wales said it expects the success of the Flintshire deployment to encourage other mobile operators to bring forward proposals to use council infrastructure across the region.
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