We wanted to extend our gratitude and appreciation for your continued support in facilitating access to our telecommunications apparatus over these past challenging months. Your cooperation has enabled us to keep the UK’s mobile networks running to support the new way of life under the COVID-19 pandemic.

As England enters a second nationwide lockdown, and tiered lockdowns/tighter restrictions are put in place in other parts of the UK, we would like to draw your attention to the government guidance that covers telecommunications workers and the industry during the pandemic. The Government recognises the ongoing importance of the telecommunications industry, including mobile networks, at this critical time and has therefore designated the industry as one of the critical sectors in new government regulations and legislation for dealing with the pandemic. Telecommunications workers have also been given “key worker” status as government guidance states that network operators must be able to rectify network outages promptly and to mitigate any effects of network degradation over the duration of this emergency period.

Like the last nationwide lockdown, the country is unequivocally reliant on digital communications. Maintaining the integrity of our communications networks is of paramount importance to keep individuals and businesses connected to get through the pandemic and level up for recovery afterwards.

Read more about the Government’s COVID-19 guidance for telecommunications infrastructure deployment in England: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-guidance-for-telecommunicationsinfrastructure-deployment-in-england

Lockdown rules and seasons change, but your support remains crucial to us

We appreciate that people across the country are having to adjust to evolving government guidance and restrictions that apply in each UK nation. Your unwavering support remains crucial to enabling us to attend to critical repair and upgrade works in a timely manner in order to minimise the impact on the user communities. In line with government guidance, we are focusing on tasks that are absolutely vital to ensuring our networks can continue to deliver resilient connectivity for supporting mass homeworking and the effective operations of the NHS and emergency services during the lockdown.

Timely restoration of disrupted voice and/or data services is of utmost importance when connectivity to the outside world at such difficult times matters the most to everyone, including yourself. We aim to prioritise our fault-repairs based on the severity of the impact to EE and
Three’s customers. As we are sure you can imagine, high-priority repair works will require access to our equipment within 2 hours of the outage being reported.

We wanted to reassure you that the health and safety of our employees, partners, the general public, and not least yourself remains our top priority. Our key workers and partners adhere stringently to all national and regional government guidelines regarding COVID-19 when visiting your site for essential repair and upgrade works. We will also try to schedule site visits at times that work best for you whenever possible in order to minimise the impact on your daily routine.

Read more about the new national restrictions coming into effect from 5 November: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november

Help us to support the nation’s fight against COVID-19 and post-pandemic recovery

Please continue to keep us updated on your arrangements to facilitate access to the telecommunications apparatus, particularly any changes arising out of the COVID lockdown and restrictions in your area. This information is vital for us to be able to implement crucial network repair and upgrade works in order to support the country to get back to normal life. Please email site.access@mbnl.co.uk (stating the premises name and postcode in the subject heading) to tell us of any changes to your “call out” procedure. We sincerely thank you for your continued support to help us keep the UK connected as we persevere with the fight against COVID-19 and work together towards recovery. We will continue to monitor government guidance and inform you of any further update regarding site
access at these challenging times. Stay safe and enjoy the Autumn season!

The Covid-19 lockdown has seen record surge in voice and video calls throughout the UK when stay-at-home people make more and longer calls to loved ones, the NHS, for work and takeaways

Firstly, we hope this finds you well, and that you and your loved ones are keeping safe. As one of MBNL’s valued site providers, we want to express our gratitude for your continued support in facilitating access to our telecommunications apparatus throughout this challenging period. By working together, this has enabled us to keep the UK’s mobile networks running to support the new way of life under lockdown.

During the past two months, your willingness to work with us has enabled us to repair urgent service-affecting faults and carry out essential capacity upgrade works so we could deliver the much-needed resilient network performance during these testing times. Throughout this period, we have ensured the safety of our site providers and everyone on site with stringent adherence to all Government guidelines with regard to Covid-19, including the use of personal protective equipment by our key workers, as well as scheduling site visits at times that work best for you whenever possible, in order to minimise the impact on your daily routine.

As the country begins a gradual relaxation of the lockdown restrictions, our priority remains to maintain reliable and high-quality mobile connectivity for the tens of millions of EE and Three customers in the UK. As you would expect, we will continue to put the health and safety of our employees, partners, the general public, and not least yourself at the forefront of all that we do.

Your support is vital to the nation’s recovery

Please continue to keep us updated on your arrangements to facilitate access to the telecommunications apparatus, particularly any changes arising out of the easing of the lockdown measures. This information is vital for us to be able to implement crucial network repair and upgrade works in order to support the country to get back to normal life.

Please email site.access@mbnl.co.uk (stating the premise name and postcode in the subject heading) to tell us of any changes to your “call out” procedure. We would also like to remind you that we require the ability to obtain the same level of access on public holidays, for instance, the upcoming Spring bank holiday on 25th May.

We will continue to monitor the latest Government advice and keep you informed as the situation evolves. We thank you for your continued support to work with us to keep the UK connected as we navigate this uncharted route to recovery together. Thank you and stay safe.

The UK Government sent a “stay at home” text to the whole nation via mobile networks as part of the COVID-19 outbreak response

We would like to say “Thank You” for your support in continuing to facilitate site access to our telecommunications apparatus so our key workers can carry out essential works to keep the networks running during the on-going COVID-19 outbreak.

As the UK remains in a nationwide lockdown amid its fight against the outbreak, the 24/7 availability of communication services is critically important as people rely on these for almost every element of this new way of daily life.  Fully operational telecommunications infrastructure is needed to support mass homeworking and connectivity to emergency and medical services.

In light of this, the Government has issued its most recent guidance on telecommunications infrastructure deployment, that sets out and clarifies that telecommunications, including mobile networks, are a critical sector in new Government regulations and legislation, recognising the ongoing importance of the telecommunications industry at this crucial time.

Key aspects of the new regulations:

• Work to repair and maintain the telecommunications network must be allowed to continue at the current time.
• Site Providers should continue to provide access to sites to inspect, maintain, adjust, repair or upgrade electronic communications equipment.
• Network operators must be able to rectify network outages promptly and to mitigate any effects of network degradation over the duration of this emergency period.
• Gatherings of more than two people are permitted where this is essential for work purposes.  Workers must follow the guidance about taking precautions to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Full guidance statement can be found here.

For the list of critical sectors identified by the Government please view here.

MBNL is committed to doing its utmost to maintain our vital networks for the tens of millions of EE and Three mobile customers in the UK.  In line with Government guidance, we are concentrating our resources on tasks that are absolutely essential to supporting the country’s critical national infrastructure by making sure communication services remain accessible for key workers at the forefront of the outbreak response, enabling businesses and individuals to carry on as normally as possible, and protecting the most vulnerable in society.

Your support helps to connect the whole nation

Thank you again to our site providers who have been in touch since our last communications to inform us of your contingency plans and offered extra help for prompt site access and safety.  We would appreciate it if you could continue to keep us updated on your arrangements to facilitate site access to the telecommunications apparatus.  Please also take any measures necessary to ensure that these arrangements can be used at all times.  This is vital for our key workers to carry out repairs to any service-affecting faults and to continue our essential capacity upgrades.  Please be assured that we and our partners are following all Government guidelines to ensure the health and safety of both your and our workforce as well as the public.

Please email site.access@mbnl.co.uk (stating the premise name and postcode in the subject heading) to tell us of any changes to your “call out” procedure, or request for our support to set up one.

We will continue to monitor the latest Government advice and keep you informed. We thank you for your continued support to work with us to keep the country connected and help everyone to ride out this crisis.

Thank you.

Note: In response to the recent emergence of a groundless claim that 5G is linked to coronavirus, we would like to draw your attention to government and telecoms industry sources for the accurate information.

Please click at these links to view the information: UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
Mobile UK (the trade association for the UK’s mobile network operators)

MBNL manages the telecommunications infrastructure of EE and Three, two of the UK’s leading mobile operators

In line with the Government’s advice regarding social distancing to combat the coronavirus outbreak, it is of paramount importance that people of all ages and from all walks of life have uninterrupted access to mobile connectivity for:

• 999 emergency & medical services
• Online learning amid potential school closures
• Working from home & remote working
• Staying in touch with family, friends, and the outside world

How can you help?

Now, more than ever, we need to work together with all our site providers in the national interest to ensure that the UK’s mobile networks can meet this unprecedented capacity demand. To that end, we need your help in making sure a contingency plan is in place that continues to facilitate site access to the telecommunications apparatus. This is vital in enabling us to rapidly carry out repairs to any service-affecting faults, as well as continuing our scheduled capacity upgrades which are crucial for overcoming the growing strain on the networks amid Government advice regarding self-isolation and social distancing. Engineers from our network partners must also be able to access sites quickly to carry out critical repairs that may be necessary to maintain access to the mobile networks for all users. Please be assured that we and our partners are taking stringent measures to ensure the health and safety of both your and our workforce as well as the public.

As a result of the ongoing outbreak, it is expected many sites will have more staff working remotely.  Please ensure you tell us of any changes or additions to your “call out” procedure, and also take any measures necessary to ensure that it can be used at all times.  If you don’t have a procedure like this, we would like to request that you establish one and would be happy to support you in doing so.  You can contact us by emailing site.access@mbnl.co.uk stating the premise name and postcode in the subject heading.

The Telecommunications Code of Practice is available here which highlights how Operators and Landlords should work together.

For latest Government updates regarding coronavirus, please check here.

MBNL is working hard with EE, Three and our suppliers to safeguard the nation’s wellbeing and livelihoods.  We will continue to monitor the latest Government advice and keep you informed. We appeal to you for your continued support to work with us to help everyone in this country to ride out this crisis.

Thank you.