Vodafone Malta has just launched an innovative system, Cells on Wheels (COW), which is a network on wheels providing improved coverage on Vodafone’s network. This new system will be used for the very first time during the Isle of MTV on Wednesday 26th June.

“Just like roads during peak-hour, congestion occurs and the same happens on mobile networks,” said Francis Fenech and Sandro Debono who both worked on this project. “With customers constantly wanting to update their Facebook Wall and posting photos on Instagram, we thought that the Isle of MTV would be the best place to launch and install our new Cells on Wheels technology that improves phone coverage and performance for all our customers. Vodafone customers will be benefitting from the Cells on Wheels mobile base station as they will have the same quality service that Vodafone is renowned for, even when attending events where the demand for mobile traffic is high and coverage and capacity may suffer if not adequately provided.”

Vodafone started working on this project in February and both Francis Fenech, an RBS Field Technician and Sandro Debono, an installer worked within Vodafone’s Technology Department to come up with the Cells on Wheels technology. The purpose of this mobile base station is to provide outdoor coverage during mass events like concerts and meetings nationwide.

“We undertook this project and manufactured the COW in-house, ensuring we had a package fit for easy deployment in our environment,” said Andrew de La Torre, Head of Technology at Vodafone Malta. “The device can be easily towed and the antenna will make sure that we have better capacity and performance during mass events. Special thanks have to go to Francis Fenech and Sandro Debono who spent many weekends and evenings bringing this innovative idea to life!”

The Cells on Wheels technology will be used for the very first time during the massive Isle of MTV event which always attracts tens of thousands of people. This technology will subsequently be used during other events such as the Beer Festival, the Joseph Calleja concert and possibly Mark Knopfler’s concert. With the Cells on Wheels Vodafone will be placing the required capacity where it is needed most and customers will be connected wherever they are.

“We are always striving to provide dedicated coverage at high profile events offering the best quality of service for our customers,” said Balesh Sharma, CEO at Vodafone Malta. “High capacity and high profile events are a key opportunity to showcase our network but coping with huge numbers  of customers who constantly use their smartphones is very challenging for our technology. We have therefore created another first in Malta, differentiating ourselves from our competition in the form of our Cells on Wheels, providing GSM and 3G services that give us the possibility to be fully up and running at events in around 2 days.”