From Leeds to Latitude: where COWs rocked the UK in summer 2025

The tents are packed away and the gates are now closed. As summer 2025 comes to an end, we look back at a festival of data usage across some of the biggest events for our temporary mobile phone masts – Cells on Wheels (or ‘COWs’ for short).

From June to the end of August, there were nearly 100 COW deployments at events across the UK – from agriculture shows to the biggest music festivals. COWs were brought in to help manage the extra demand for mobile data, ensuring that Vodafone and Three customers had the fast and reliable coverage they expect.

The COW herd was certainly busy. One Vodafone COW – nicknamed Alexander Graham Bull – travelled nearly 1,500 miles (approx. 2,400km) across the summer on a non-stop road trip, which took in Isle of Wight Festival and TRNSMT in Glasgow, before visiting the Boardmasters in Newquay.

Vodafone, The Official Connectivity Partner of Glastonbury Festival, also revealed that data traffic usage was up by almost 25% at this year’s event, compared with 2024.

Meanwhile, Three is Official Connectivity Partner to some of the country’s most iconic festivals, including Parklife, Wilderness and Latitude. It provided enough mobile data for customers to stream the equivalent of over 1 million hours of music- that’s over a century of nonstop Charli XCX, Drake, Fatboy Slim and Chappell Roan- through temporary masts deployed on-site to keep festivalgoers connected throughout.

The busy summer season rounded off at Reading and Leeds Festival, where Vodafone and Three customers used enough data combined to stream music non-stop for over 150 years.

It wasn’t all about the COWs this summer, however. Some of the UK’s largest stadiums and arenas have recently received mobile coverage through dedicated in-building systems, including Principality Stadium in Cardiff. As Digital Transformation Partner of the Welsh Rugby Union, Vodafone has installed 5G around the stadium. And, when nearly 150,000 fans packed out the stadium on July 4 and 5 for the opening nights of Oasis’ long-awaited reunion, Vodafone and Three customers used enough data to stream Champagne Supernova for more than 40,856 hours non-stop.

Elsewhere, at Wimbledon – where Vodafone is The Official Connectivity Partner to The Championships – customers managed to stay connected throughout the action. Vodafone’s 5G Standalone network, which has been deployed across the grounds, meant both spectators and those working at the tournament continued to enjoy fast Vodafone 5G speeds over the fortnight. In fact, this year’s tournament saw enough Vodafone mobile data used across the tournament to stream the men’s final roughly 17,000 times.

And as for the COWs, although summer is their busiest season, they will be at more events for the rest of 2025, including the PGA Golf Championship at Wentworth and Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland. And planning has already started for next year. While the most recent summer of mobile data usage may be over, VodafoneThree’s role in ensuring its brands’ customers enjoy fast and reliable coverage at special events never ends.