Tesco Mobile completes 65 upgrades across Greater Manchester

Tesco Mobile has completed 65 network upgrades across Greater Manchester, covering more than 14,000 postcodes.

Carried out throughout 2025, the upgrades are intended to improve mobile speeds, coverage and reliability. The work spans Manchester city centre and surrounding areas including Bolton, Wigan, Rochdale, Oldham and Bury.

The move comes as mobile operators face rising demand for dependable connections in dense urban areas, transport networks and large public venues. Greater Manchester is one of the UK's largest city regions, with heavy daily demand from commuters, shoppers, businesses and sports fans.

Tesco Mobile, which uses O2's network, said customers should see better service in busy shopping districts, transport hubs, live events and on matchdays. The work is also expected to improve performance during peak travel periods and better support people working while travelling or away from fixed broadband.

Alongside the local upgrades, Virgin Media O2 has been deploying newer network technology to direct extra capacity to the busiest locations. The group has also been using small cells in dense urban areas to strengthen coverage in city-centre hotspots and around transport interchanges.

The Greater Manchester programme forms part of a wider effort to improve connectivity in the UK locations where network demand is highest, including railway lines, motorways, airports, stadiums and arenas.

Research cited by Tesco Mobile points to persistent consumer frustration with patchy mobile service. Nearly 80% of people surveyed said they had experienced a call dropping mid-conversation because of a poor connection, while 35% said more reliable connectivity in busy areas was among the most valuable benefits of network upgrades.

Regional demand

For businesses in Greater Manchester, mobile coverage affects day-to-day operations beyond calls and messaging. Retailers and hospitality venues increasingly rely on mobile data for payments, bookings and staff communications, while mobile workers need stable access to cloud-based tools and customer systems when travelling between sites.

Improved performance in town centres and transport corridors may also matter for small and medium-sized businesses that depend on uninterrupted service during trading hours. In high-footfall areas, capacity constraints can quickly lead to slower speeds and unreliable connections, particularly during large events or commuter peaks.

Tesco Mobile positioned the upgrades as a response to those pressures, focusing on areas where mobile traffic is concentrated. Manchester city centre, regional town centres and key transport routes all tend to experience sharp swings in usage throughout the day.

Laura Joseph, Chief Customer Officer at Tesco Mobile, said: "We know our customers expect fast, reliable connectivity wherever they are. These upgrades across Greater Manchester help us deliver exactly that - stronger coverage, better performance in busy areas and a more consistent experience day to day. Powered by O2, we're continuing to invest where it matters most to keep our customers connected."

The expansion reflects a wider industry push to improve service quality in urban areas, where population growth and mobile data consumption are rising together. Operators have increasingly focused investment on places where large numbers of users gather and where service issues are most visible.

Greater Manchester has been a particular focus for telecoms investment because of its scale, economic activity and transport links. The city region includes major retail centres, large sports venues and busy commuter routes, all of which put pressure on network performance at different times of day.

For Tesco Mobile customers in the area, the effect of the work will be measured less by technical specifications than by whether calls connect, messages send without delay and data services hold up in crowded locations. The company's survey suggests those basics remain a concern for many mobile users.

The upgrades cover a broad spread of postcodes across the conurbation, suggesting an effort that extends beyond the city centre into surrounding towns. That matters in a region where travel between boroughs is routine and service continuity can vary sharply from one district to another.

As operators continue adding capacity and filling coverage gaps, pressure to show tangible improvements in everyday service is unlikely to ease. In high-density markets such as Greater Manchester, customer expectations are shaped by whether mobile connections remain stable when they are needed most.