O2 hits 500 Giga Sites in £700 million network overhaul
Key Points
- O2 has switched on its 500th Giga Site, with North Elgin in Scotland the latest location
- Each Giga Site delivers ten times more capacity than previous infrastructure, boosting speeds and coverage for customers
- The rollout is part of O2's £700m Mobile Transformation Plan, with 1,000 sites targeted this year
- Virgin Media O2 says it invests around £2m per day in its mobile network
O2 has switched on its 500th Giga Site in North Elgin, reaching the halfway point in its plan to deploy 1,000 of the advanced mobile masts across the UK this year.
Giga Sites are O2’s most advanced mobile sites, combining low, mid and high band spectrum with Massive MIMO antenna technology to deliver faster speeds, wider coverage and greater capacity for customers.
O2 said each site delivers ten times more capacity than the infrastructure it replaces, allowing more customers to stream, make video calls and stay online in the busiest locations. The operator has now activated the sites in towns and cities across the country, with North Elgin in Scotland the latest to benefit.
The rollout forms part of O2’s £700m Mobile Transformation Plan, which covers new sites, small cells, 4G and 5G upgrades, automation and additional spectrum deployment. The operator said demand for mobile data continues to climb, driven by streaming, social media, gaming, remote working and AI applications.
Jeanie York, Chief Technology Officer at Virgin Media O2, said reaching 500 Giga Sites marks a major milestone in the transformation of the company’s mobile network.
“As customers use more data than ever before, these cutting edge sites are helping us add capacity where it’s needed most and deliver a faster, more reliable experience across the UK,” York said.
“We’re not slowing down, with more towns and cities set to benefit throughout the year as we continue investing around £2 million per day in our mobile network.”
From Paddington to 1,000 sites
O2 activated its first Giga Site in Paddington, London, in October 2025, using Nokia’s dual-band Massive MIMO technology alongside spectrum acquired from Vodafone UK.
The company said at the time that the London site could deliver more than 10Gbps of throughput, enough to support 2,000 simultaneous HD video streams. It set a target of 1,000 Giga Sites nationwide, a goal it now sits halfway towards after nine months.
The network upgrade is particularly beneficial in congested areas where networks typically slow down, such as city centres, transport hubs and stadiums. The multi-band approach lets a single mast serve large numbers of users at once while maintaining speeds, rather than forcing customers onto slower fallback connections at peak times.
