EE switches on 5G in six more UK locations

EE has switched on its first 5G sites in Hull, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Sunderland, seeing out the year by bringing the next-generation communications networks to 50 UK cities and large towns.

With its new locations, EE is claiming to provide 5G in more places than any other UK operator, surpassing its target of introducing 5G to 16 UK cities in 2019. It has also switched on its first 5G sites in Northampton, Stevenage and Wakefield.

EE’s 5G network – the UK’s first consumer-facing 5G service – first arrived on 30 May 2019 in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester. In the Birmingham deployment, analyst RootMetrics measured the EE network to have a 5G mode median download speed of 187.5Mbps.

EE’s 5G median download speed was nearly four times faster than EE’s non-5G mode median download speed, and the maximum download speed measured was 450.9Mbps.

As well as switching on 5G sites in new cities and large towns, EE has also brought 5G to more high-footfall locations, including London Euston Station, Cardiff Central Station, Glasgow’s Bath Street and St Enoch Square, Belfast’s Kingspan Stadium, and Coventry’s Council House and Cathedral Ruins. The company has set itself the target of having 5G live in more than 70 cities and large towns by March 2020, in time for the next big 5G devices.

Marc Allera, CEO of EE parent BT’s consumer division, said: “We switched on the UK’s first 5G network in May, and this is another milestone towards keeping our customers connected 100% of the time. We are leading the way in the UK, with 4G and 5G coverage in more places than any other operator.

“Adding 5G to more cities and towns – and expanding our 5G coverage in each place – is helping us to always deliver the best mobile experience to our customers.”