Visitors to this year’s National Eisteddfod held in Is-y-coed, Wrexham, from the 2nd–9th August 2025, benefited from enhanced mobile connectivity thanks to the collaboration of Ambition North Wales, Wrexham County Borough Council, and Mobile Network Operators.
The National Eisteddfod is the largest cultural festival in Europe and a key celebration of the Welsh language and culture. Attracting up to 170,000 visitors and many traders each year, mobile networks face a significant increase in demand, which can lead to slower internet, interrupted calls, difficulty accessing apps, or problems making card payments.
Given the potential challenges, ahead of the festival, Ambition North Wales and Wrexham County Borough Council worked directly with Mobile Network Operators to highlight the importance of reliable mobile coverage at the event. VodafoneThree, O2 and EE placed temporary improvements in place to boost capacity across the site, helping visitors make calls, share photos, access the internet more easily, and use the National Eisteddfod’s official app to check timetables, results, and other event information.
VodafoneThree deployed a temporary trailer.
Known as a ‘Cell on Wheels’ (COW), the trailer provided 2G, 4G and 5G coverage for the duration of the event with the busiest days being Friday 8th and Saturday 9th August.
As a result, Vodafone customers at the National Eisteddfod:
- Made more than 170,000 voice calls
- Used around 14 terabytes of data, enough to stream over 112,000 hours of high quality music
- Saw download speeds reaching 136 Mbps on Vodafone 5G - fast enough to upload a video of a performance in seconds
- Enjoyed strong, fast and reliable Vodafone 4G and 5G signal throughout the event
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VodafoneThree’s Temporary Mast
At the National Eisteddfod, this supported both Vodafone and O2 customers.
O2 also supported this year's National Eisteddfod through deploying additional network capacity by utilising VodafoneThree’s ‘Cell on Wheels’ thanks to a network sharing agreement between the operators.
Visitors benefited in several ways over the week. For O2 customers, usage on the same mast included:
- 1955 voice calls being made
- Just over 12.5 terabytes of data being used during the week – the equivalent of supporting hundreds of traders and visitors to access apps, make payments, and stay connected across the site.
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EE also boosted its service by setting up a temporary network to strengthen coverage for its customers.
EE's temporary mast - shown left, ensured that over the week:
- 233,588 voice calls were made.
- Around 29 terabytes of data were used (split between 21TB on 4G and 7.5TB on 5G) - the equivalent of millions of WhatsApp messages and social media posts or videos calling home across thousands of hours.
- Average 4G download speeds were 31 Mbps, keeping visitors connected for streaming, sharing, and navigating around the festival.
- The temporary network stayed online and available 100% of the time, giving visitors a reliable service whether they were in the pavilions or outdoors.
Working Together for Better Connectivity
These improvements highlight the value of collaboration and engagement and how, by working directly with Moblie Network Operators, Ambition North Wales is helping to ensure that both communities and major events in the region can stay connected.
Working closely with industry is a key part of Ambition North Wales’ Digital Connectivity Programme, which focuses on providing high-quality digital access across the region. This includes delivering major projects like 4G+, which is targetting improvements to mobile connectivity at key economic sites in North Wales, such as transport routes, businesses and tourism hubs. The National Eisteddfod is a great example of this approach making a real difference.
Cllr Mark Pritchard, Chair of Ambition North Wales and Leader of Wrexham County Borough Council said:
I’m proud that Wrexham hosted this year’s National Eisteddfod. It is a hugely significant event for the whole of Wales and it was great to see the festival being so successful here in the north. By working with mobile network operators, we were able to ensure that everyone benefitted from improved connectivity – adding positively to their visitor experience.
Cllr Nia Jeffreys, Lead Member for Ambition North Wales’ Digital Connectivity Programme and Leader of Cyngor Gwynedd, said:
"The National Eisteddfod is a special event that celebrates our Welsh culture and the Welsh language. During the festival we welcome visitors from all over Wales and beyond. It is very important that visitors, competitors and traders can fully engage, enjoy and share the experience, from far or near. By collaborating with mobile network operators, as part of the Digital Connectivity Programme, we were able to enhance connectivity and digital services across the site for all.
Betsan Moses, Chief Executive of the National Eisteddfod, said:
“Being able to use mobile phones is absolutely vital at a festival of the size and significance of the National Eisteddfod. The digital experience – from sharing special moments on social media, checking timetables on the official app, making payments, even keeping in touch with friends on the Maes – is an integral part of the festival experience today. We’re very proud of the collaboration that ensured reliable connectivity for our visitors this year.”