Umlaut Connect names EE as the UK’s best network for 11th straight year

By Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer, BT Group

As 2025 wraps up, we’re proud to end the year with recognition from Umlaut Connect that EE has once again – for the eleventh consecutive year – been named the UK’s best mobile network, following its robust independent benchmarking process. This follows similar recognition from RootMetrics earlier this year.

Last year, we set a record-breaking score for the UK, becoming the first network to ever break the 900 barrier – an achievement which placed EE in a class above every other UK operator. This milestone still stands, and this year we’ve gone even further, achieving an incredible score of 920 and extending our already significant lead over second place.

EE also performed best in each of the nine major cities where local performance was analysed, including London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast¹, as well as in testing on railways and across over 5.7 billion samples of crowdsourced data. That means whether they’re gaming, video-calling or streaming, customers in these cities, and right across the UK, enjoy an unbeatable experience.

The results come just a few weeks after we experienced a new record data peak on our mobile network of 1.79 Tbps, demonstrating the ever-increasing need for reliable mobile connectivity in our personal and professional lives. Which is why we’re also especially proud of the fact that we’ve also been named within Umlaut’s report as the most reliable network for both voice and data services.

It takes a huge amount of work to keep enhancing our mobile network leadership performance while meeting growing customer demand – and doing so as we continue to expand coverage, including this year doubling the size of our 5G+ network, which now reaches over 68% of the UK population, with an ambition to cover 99% by the end of FY30.

With that in mind, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on some of the brilliant milestones and innovations of the past 12 months, all of which have contributed to the recognition we’re seeing from Umlaut today:

• We achieved a world-first in launching Advanced RAN Coordination (ARC), a smart technology that lets nearby mobile sites share capacity. This means faster speeds (around 20 per cent quicker downloads) and more reliable 5G in busy places like city centres and train stations – without needing extra masts.

• We’ve also improved upload for customers, becoming the first operator in Europe to deploy a new generation of Ericsson Massive MIMO units for up to 4x greater uplink performance than previously – increasingly important for everyday activities like live-streaming and mobile gaming.

• Our comprehensive network of outdoor small cells – miniature masts which help to boost mobile capacity in the busiest urban areas – now stands at 1,500 nationwide following over 500 new installations across the UK, including our very first deployments in towns and cities such as Belfast, Bristol, Middlesbrough, Preston and Bolton.

• Complementing this work, we’ve also delivered improved indoor connectivity across a host of venues where it’s needed most, from shopping centres and travel hubs to some of the country’s most iconic sports and events venues like Cheltenham Racecourse.

These milestones underline how our commitment to enhancing and densifying the EE network is delivering a tangible difference for customers – faster speeds, greater reliability, and better connectivity where it matters most, with our brilliant engineers working tirelessly year-round to make it all possible. Achieving a record-breaking score isn’t just an accolade; it’s proof that our strategy is working. As demand for mobile data continues to grow, we’ll keep pushing the boundaries to ensure EE customers continue to enjoy the best possible experience on the UK’s best network. 

¹ _{Full list of cities: Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester}