Vodafone has setup up its first community hub to receive indoor 3G coverage under its Community Indoor Sure Signal (CISS) programme.

The Wortwell Bell Inn, a pub on the outskirts of Harleston in South Norfolk, has had a mini-mast installed inside of it to provide pubgoers and pub staff with Vodafones 3G mobile coverage.  The units, approximately the size of a standard broadband router, provide 3G mobile coverage throughout a building when connected to an existing broadband line.

“Community hubs, like pubs and village halls, across the UK play an important part in rural life and supporting the local economy,” said Jorge Fernandes, Vodafone UKs CTO. “We want to ensure all our customers can enjoy the benefits of mobile connectivity wherever they are but appreciate there are some communities which will take longer to get to using traditional methods.  We remain committed to innovative programmes, like ROSS (Rural Open Sure Signal) and CISS, which help bring coverage to communities who need it.”

Vodafone says that, due to the difficulty establishing reliable indoor coverage in certain areas, the CISS programme is focused on bringing Vodafone indoor coverage to 100 community hubs, such as pubs, village halls and community centres, across the country.

Vodafone has already provided 3G coverage to 84 rural not-spots across the country, through its ROSS programme.