Virgin Media O2 wheels out the COWS for summer festivals

Virgin Media O2 will be deploying temporary wheeled masts at 29 festivals and special events and at 12 holiday destinations this summer.

The temporary masts, known as Cells on Wheels (COW), are powered by a hydrotreated vegetable oil solution expected to save 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. The network says this is around the same as the annual energy use of more than 530 homes.

The masts have been used at Glastonbury, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and the British Summer Time festival. They will be deployed at the Reading & Leeds and Latitude festivals.

COWs are used in disaster recovery scenarios when natural disasters damage permanent cell towers. They are also used to test new technologies and network configurations before permanent installation. Additionally, they are used during network upgrades and maintenance to ensure continuous service.