O2 UK Enables 5G Standalone Mobile Broadband Network in Northern Ireland

Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has today announced that they’ve switched-on their next-generation 5G Standalone (5G+) mobile broadband network across much of Northern Ireland, which is said to reach more than 800,000 residents in 5 cities, 22 large towns and 382 smaller towns, villages and hamlets – delivering “faster speeds, better coverage and lower latency at no extra cost.”

Just to recap. O2’s rollout of 5G+ / 5GSA first began in February 2024 (here) and aims to reach “at least 90% outdoor coverage” in every location they cover. The operator’s latest rollout in Northern Ireland includes locations such as Belfast, Derry, Lisburn and Armagh, as well as smaller towns and villages, such as Ballycastle and Portrush (quite a bit of this went live a while ago and is only now being confirmed).

The new 5G+ network is currently live across around 86% of the UK’s population. The technology offers a pure end-to-end 5G network that can deliver ultra-low latency times, greater energy efficiency, better speeds (particularly uploads), network slicing, improved support for IoT devices, increased reliability and security etc. By comparison, early 5G networks used a Non-Standalone (NSA) approach, which was hobbled by being partly reliant upon older and slower 4G infrastructure.

O2’s 5G+ Locations in N.Ireland

Belfast, Derry, Lisburn, Newry, Armagh, Newtownabbey, Bangor, Lurgan, Ballymena, Carrickfergus, Newtownards, Portadown, Coleraine, Antrim, Omagh, Larne, Banbridge, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Strabane, Limavady, Cookstown, Holywood, Downpatrick, Craigavon, Ballymoney, Ballyclare, Bushmills, Portrush, Kilkeen, Ballycastle, Newcastle.

The new network is typically available to O2’s customers with compatible devices, although we do wish that mobile operators would start giving geographic coverage figures for their 5G+ network. Population figures always sound good, but the reality is often a lot patchier.