Everything Everywhere and BT Wholesale have announced an extension of the live multi-operator customer trial of LTE broadband in Cornwall. They have been providing wireless broadband to 180 customers living in and around St. Newlyn East in Cornwall since October 2011. Ofcom has now granted an extension of the trial until end-June to enable them to continue investigating the application of LTE in rural areas. The trial is successfully demonstrating that fixed and mobile technologies can work together to provide a broadband delivery option for remote rural areas. It has also proven that the low frequency spectrum (such as 800MHz) allocated to this trial is optimal for enabling broadband in remote rural communities. Previously, the trialists had no broadband or speeds of less than 2 Mbps. Now they are reaching average download speeds of 7 Mbps. The trial is being implemented with support from technology partners Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei.
