O2 deploys pre-assembled mast in Europe first

O2 has installed what it says is Europe’s first pre-assembled mobile mast, aiming to speed up rollout and tighten quality control. Built in partnership with telecoms service provider Vecta Labs, the first site is now live in Sandwich, Kent. Instead of assembling antennas, radios and cabling on location, most of the work happens in a factory, where components are fully integrated and tested before shipping.

The units are checked in controlled environments, including anechoic chambers for radio performance, wind simulations, and Passive Intermodulation screening to cut signal interference. On site, engineers now make about six cable connections instead of roughly 100, and O2 says the Kent mast went up in four hours, compared with the usual two days. The pre-assembled approach is part of O2’s £700 million Mobile Transformation Plan, which calls for more than 100 such sites to be deployed across the UK this year.