EE’s 5G Extends to More UK City Centres and Transport Hubs

Mobile operator EE has announced that their new 5G ultrafast mobile broadband network, which started to rollout across London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester in May 2019 (here), has now been switched-on in even more of the UK’s “busiest transport hubs and city centre destinations.”

As the first operator to start their rollout, it comes as little surprise to find EE claiming that their new network is now “available in more places than any other UK 5G network.” So far they’ve covered parts of over 20 large towns and cities, with a further 7 large cities due to see the start of their rollout in 2019 (Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield and Nottingham).

EE is also expanding coverage around their launch cities to reach busy towns and suburbs. In the West Midlands, they’re rolling out around Solihull, Dudley, Sutton Coldfield, West Bromwich and Lichfield. Around Greater Manchester, 5G is deploying to Salford, Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Rochdale and Milnrow. The new network is also launching in Kingston-upon-Thames, Grays, Romford, Chatham and Gillingham around London.

On top of that the operator has this week built sites in three new cities – Bristol, Leicester and Coventry. The sites will be switched-on next week. Otherwise they’ve been busy connecting a series of large transport hubs and popular landmarks.

Recent 5G Deployments by EE (Transport Hubs and Landmarks)
* London Waterloo (Britain’s largest train station), Liverpool Street Station, Charing Cross, Highbury and Islington, New Cross Gate Overground and the Shoreditch High Street Overground station.
* Market Street on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
* Cardiff’s St David’s shopping centre and Morgan Arcade.
* London’s Piccadilly Circus, Clapham Common, and Hampton Court Palace gardens.
* Albert Square, the home of Manchester’s Christmas markets.
* Belfast’s Great Northern Mall and City Hall.
* Birmingham’s historical Victoria Square, the Mailbox and Brindley Place.

Marc Allera, CEO of BT Consumer, said:

“Switching on 5G in more busy places will help to keep our customers connected to the things that matter to them the most. Our engineers are building new 5G sites every day, and increasing capacity on 4G sites – all part of our ambition to keep all of our customers connected 100% of the time.”

We should point out that EE’s 5G network is also planned to rollout across Aberdeen, Cambridge, Derby, Gloucester, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Southampton, Worcester and Wolverhampton during 2020. Sadly their mobile broadband speeds are currently limited by the fact that they only have access to a single slice of the 3.4GHz band (much like O2 and Vodafone), but Ofcom hope to auction off more spectrum next year.

The operator has also recently launched a new “unlimited data” plan from £34 per month on 4G (here), although the pricing for this rises to £44 when taken alongside a 5G plan and that’s more expensive than their rivals.