EE Shows Off Rural 4G With Cinema Screenings

EE’s latest stunt to promote its 4G network is a series of LTE-powered cinema screenings held across the UK in areas where the local cinema is a significant distance away

The ‘4GEE Community Cinema Club’ will host events across England, Scotland and Wales and kicked off with a screening in the Lake District last week.

The latest event was held in Henllan, North Wales, where locals were treated to a drive-in screening of BAFTA-winning La La Land at the Heavy Industry Brewery, a local microbrewery. EE, and Orange before it, has been a partner of BAFTA for two decades.

EE drive in movie

The village has been left with a ‘Cinema Kit’ to use for future screenings, comprising a projector, wireless speakers, movie streaming voucher and a 4G Wi-Fi device.

“This year we celebrated the 20th year of our long-standing partnership with BAFTA and announced that our 4G coverage now stretches to more than 80 percent of the UK geography,” said EE’s Max Taylor.

“The 4GEE Community Cinema Club is the perfect way to demonstrate the power of our 4G connectivity through film. Our superfast 4G network lets our customers stream the entertainment they love, wherever they are.”

EE has pledged to cover 95 percent of the UK landmass by the end of the decade. This will be possible by using low frequency spectrum bands and other methods such as drones and balloons.

Other high profile uses of EE’s 4G network include the Glastonbury Festival, where the operator has built LTE-enabled tents and fibreglass cows in the past, and Wembley Stadium, which is viewed as a testbed for new innovations.

At Glastonbury, festival-goers consumed a massive 54TB of data and EE built permanent infrastructure at the Worthy Farm site for the first time.

Quiz: The past, present and future of 4G networks