Remember that ludicrous sequence from the first Mission Impossible film – where disaster is averted by a train going into the Channel Tunnel and losing phone signal? Well its going to need a rewrite thanks to EE.
EE have announced this morning that they will be providing the UK to France tunnel with 2G & 3G coverage from March this year, with 4G following in the summer.
Seeing as EE are owned by France Telecom, I guess they were the logical choice, but interestingly there is no mention of the France to UK tunnel in the press release. So from March you will be able surf the web happily on your way into France, but probably not on the way back.
See the Press Release below for the full details.
- EE committed to building 4G network for Channel Tunnel, aiming to be complete by summer 2014
- · 2G and 3G also being enabled by EE to provide full mobile phone call and mobile data services for all EE customers
January 9th, 2014 – EE, the UK’s most advanced communications company, today announced that the Channel Tunnel will be covered by superfast 4GEE mobile services by summer 2014.
The 35 minute journey underground from the UK to France is going to be enhanced for commuting business workers and holidaymakers through access to the superfast 4GEE network. The time underground can be spent online preparing for meetings, checking emails, planning travel routes, researching a holiday destination or watching streamed movies.
Around 20 million people travel through the Channel Tunnel each year, either on the Eurotunnel shuttle in their cars or lorries or on a Eurostar train.
2G and 3G services are also set to go live in the North Running Tunnel (UK to France) in March 2014.
EE CTO Fotis Karonis said:
“We’re proud to offer customers a superfast 4G service when they’re travelling from the UK into Europe. It’s another technology first for EE, and it’s one that will make a big difference to business workers and people going away on holiday. Being connected is such an important part of travelling now and this will be another route we’ve covered with 4G, making a huge difference to millions of customers who can now make the most of their journey time.”
For more information, please visit www.ee.co.uk.
