Clwyd West AM Darren Millar has welcomed a new scheme to give indoor mobile coverage to up to 100 rural community hubs, from pubs to village halls and community-run shops, in mobile coverage not-spots across the UK.
Vodafone’s Community Indoor Sure Signal (CISS) programme is designed to provide reliable indoor 3G voice and data coverage and will be open to 100 rural community hubs, building on the success of Vodafone’s Rural Open Sure Signal programme.
The scheme compliments the company’s expected investment of £2 billion over the next three years on improving its network and services across the UK.
Darren met with Vodafone representatives in Cardiff today to discuss the new scheme and the need to improve mobile reception in areas of poor reception in Clwyd West, including areas around Colwyn Heights and some of the rural communities in Conwy County Borough area.
He said:
“I had a productive meeting today with Vodafone and highlighted the problems some of my constituents are facing and the need for them to do more to improve coverage for their customers.”
Regarding their CISS programme, he added: “Following a successful pilot at the Bear and Ragged Staff pub in Bransford, near Worcester, Vodafone are now calling for applications from rural community centres such as independent or community-run pubs and shops, village halls, scout huts, doctors’ surgeries or visitor centres, that do not currently have reliable mobile coverage.
“This programme would benefit many rural areas in my constituency and I urge all those eligible to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to boost mobile coverage.”
Successful applicants, who must be the broadband bill payer, will need an unlimited broadband package with download speeds of at least 4Mbps and upload speeds of 2Mbps and a domestic plug-in power point. The CISS unit simply plugs into a standard fixed broadband router to provide mobile coverage throughout a building, hall or shop.
Full information and application details are available at http://blog.vodafone.co.uk/2016/07/07/ciss100-reliable-indoor-signal-pub
Picture caption: Clwyd West AM Darren Millar in Cardiff with Graham Dunn of Vodafone.