UK operator EE to spend £275m on improving the quality of phone calls in 2014

UK mobile network operator EE, best known for being the first national provider to offer 4G connectivity, plans to spend £275 million on improving the quality of the humble phone call next year.

The cash will be spent on upgrading 5,000 additional 2G cell sites and doubling capacity on 5,500 3G cell sites around the country. The work will build on improvements that have already been put in place, but will see far more 3G sites upgraded than the 1,600 that were revamped this year. Some of the cash will also go towards trialling new voice technologies like VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and Voice over WiFi.

The news will likely be welcomed by people that are tired of hearing about the latest research into 4G, 5G and beyond, but that can’t get reliable signal for carrying out phone calls – once the primary use for a phone.