O2 pledges millions to network upgrade

O2 is planning 1,500 new mobile data hotspots in the UK

Mobile operator O2 has announced plans for a huge cash investment designed to boost the capacity of its network.

The company is looking to upgrade its mobile network to make it more capable of handling data, and announced a multi-year programme of investment costing hundreds of millions of pounds.

O2 will start in London with plans to install 40 new mobile data hotspots by the end of this year, and another 160 over the next 12 months. The rest of the UK will see similar developments, adding up to 1,500 new locations.

Derek McManus, chief technology officer at O2 in the UK, explained that the company is expecting dramatic increases in data use over the coming year, and will match this growth with increased investment to add capacity for the future.

"Anticipating growth in demand for mobile services, we have quarter on quarter increased investment in our voice and data networks," he said.

"Our £500m investment over the past two years has enabled us to offer the best products in the world, including the Apple iPhone and Palm Pre. In the past 12 months the mobile industry has seen an unprecedented change in demand."

McManus added that the introduction of world-class devices and a wide variety of data applications had prompted a dramatic change in customer behaviour, and put a huge burden on mobile data networks.

"To put this in context, watching a YouTube video on a smartphone can use the same capacity on the network as sending 500,000 text messages simultaneously," he said.