Many of the coastal areas typically have poor signal due to their relatively rural locations. Meanwhile, telephone box usage is currently falling dramatically, with around a 20 per cent drop annually. In 2017 it was found that a third of phone boxes were only used once a month and many never used at all, prompting BT to scrap 20,000 of them.
Vodafone will adapt the boxes in Polzeath and Sennen Cove in Cornwall to provide 4G coverage in a 200-metre radius, as well as allowing customers to make use of a range of connected devices such as pet trackers.
The network said that mobile coverage can often be difficult to provide in remote areas and coastal locations due to the local topography and the lack of power and fibre cables needed to link up masts.
The Government’s current target is to extend mobile coverage to 95 per cent of the UK landmass by 2022. Earlier this month, Ofcom’s chief technology officer said that this target would not be reached under...