Technology
O2 subscribers enjoy 80% faster download speeds after £500m spectrum investment
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on September 25, 2018
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
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Published by Gbaf News
Posted on September 25, 2018
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Tutela research shows major performance improvements in the first six UK cities activated
Telefónica UK’s April 2018 investment of £500m in new 4G and 5G spectrum is already delivering a much-improved mobile data experience for O2 users in the six UK cities where the spectrum has been activated, according to research carried out in August by Tutela.
Subscribers in London, Oxford, Nottingham, Leeds, Leicester and Coventry have seen download speeds improve by more than 80% when using the newly-activated 2.3Ghz band, compared to O2’s average 4G performance. As O2 continues to activate the new spectrum in more cities and cell towers, more UK subscribers can expect to see a similar performance boost.
Tutela monitors the real-world experience of millions of mobile subscribers across all the major networks as they carry out everyday actions like accessing websites and sending and receiving images. Its reports are used by mobile operators to understand the end-user experience and make appropriate investments in network architecture and coverage.
Tom Luke, Vice President, Tutela, said: “Although it is still early days, Telefonica will be pleased to know its massive investment in spectrum is already starting to pay off in terms of a superior user experience in the first locations activated. The investment won’t just benefit O2 and its subscribers, but also subscribers to MVNOs like giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile and Lycamobile who use the O2 network.”
“We have identified 650 different O2 cell tower sites which have activated this spectrum (with over 500 in London), which is an impressive rollout considering the new spectrum was purchased only in April this year.”
Tutela’s analysis of O2 network performance in the 2.3Ghz band is available on their blog here: https://www.tutela.com/blog
Tutela does not collect any personal data and all results shown in Tutela’s reports are aggregated. This protects the device owner’s privacy, and ensures compliance with international data protection and privacy laws.
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