EE, Vodafone, Three and O2 are all trialling and preparing to launch their 5G networks. Here’s what’s happening.
It has been a long time coming, but 5G has finally landed in the UK, with the first network just switched on and the first wave of 5G handsets hitting stores.
That’s good news, as 5G could prove to be a revolutionary technology. At the very least it will make any process that involves data a lot faster, so you’ll be able to download large apps in seconds, stream 4K content without buffering, and load websites instantly.
But it’s also set to provide lower latency, which will be a major boon to online gamers, and to offer increased capacity, so being in a stadium or city center full of other 5G users won’t lead to network congestion.
Even that’s just the beginning – 5G could transform industry, lead to a massive rise in the Internet of Things (IoT), and a whole lot more. So, it’s set to enact a real change in the mobile landscape and beyond.
Still, while we’re on the cusp on networks launching 5G services, we’re not quite there for every single one yet. Below you’ll find everything we know so far about the 5G launch plans of the UK’s four major networks, but we’ll also look at what they’re doing in the meantime, including their numerous 5G trials.
EE was the first network to launch a 5G network in the UK, and at the time of writing it’s the only one to have done so.
It’s initially targeting a small number of cities with parts of London, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham now, while parts of Bristol, Coventry, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield will apparently get it later in 2019.
EE has been carrying out various 5G trials to get here. It was responsible forthe “UK’s first” 5G trial network, which it switched on in Canary Wharf in late 2018. It quickly expanded that trial,switching on nine 5G sites across London.
