Eurotunnel completes mobile telephone and internet connections in Channel Tunnel

For its 20th Anniversary, Eurotunnel has installed British mobile telephone services inside the North Running Tunnel with the help of UK operators Vodafone, EE and O2 UK and the equipment supplier, Alcatel-Lucent, with services commencing on 6 May for Vodafone and EE, and soon for O2 UK. With the goal of improving services for customers, the fibre optic GSP-P retransmission system for 2G1 and 3G2 mobile telephone and internet which will enable passengers on board Le Shuttle and high speed passengers to use their mobile devices to make calls and use the internet inside the Channel Tunnel is similar to that installed in the South Tunnel in July 2012 (direction France-UK) by the French operators, in time for the London Olympic Games.

Eurotunnel recognises the leap made by Alcatel-Lucent, Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom, who made the first commitment to the project which required a perfect mastery of the techniques of radio transmission inside the first tunnel and supported the installation in the second tunnel by the British telecoms operators.

Passengers will be able to make calls throughout their crossing at a quality equivalent to a wireless call made in London, Paris or elsewhere. From now on, customers who wish will be able to use their mobile phone or tablet anywhere in the Channel Tunnel. Beyond the initial 2G and 3G services, Vodafone, EE and O2 UK envisage offering 4G in the future.

The provision of a wireless mobile service broadcasted from the frontier point, 100 metres below sea level, as Eurotunnel does, for the 20 million people who travel through the Channel Tunnel each year is a feat unequalled in the world today. Passengers on the SNCF subsidiary, Eurostar, will also be able to take advantage of the investment made by Eurotunnel and the mobile telecoms operators.

In the constant search for improvement and enrichment of services provided for customers, Eurotunnel has continued to invest throughout the past 20 years to modernise its transport system and to respond to the ever increasing communications needs of its passengers.