Vodafone calls out to rural community centres

Vodafone, the mobile network company, is reaching out to the South West to apply for their new programme.

Rural community centres such as pubs, shops, and village halls are being encouraged to apply for Vodafone’s new programme, Community Indoor Sure Signal, if they have unreliable mobile coverage.

The programme will give the centre an Open Sure Signal box which will bring Vodafone indoor 3G mobile coverage to create a rural community hotspot.

It will be open to 100 rural community hubs and builds on the success of Vodafone’s Rural Open Sure Signal which provides 3G access to more than 80 rural communities.

The Community Indoor Sure Signal uses ‘femtocell’ technology with units the size of a domestic broadband box. It will ensure employees and visitors at the community hubs will be able to make calls and use data on their phones and tablets.

The application will be open until 1 September 2016 with the selected communities being announced in the autumn.

Jorge Fernandes, Vodafone chief technology officer said: “By installing our units we can ensure vital rural hotspots continue to play an important role in rural community life.”

For the technology to work the community centre must already have a broadband connection with unlimited broadband package, download speeds of 4Mbps, 2Mpbs upload speed and a power source.

For more information visit www.vodafone.uk/CISS