Vodafone to launch 5G in 19 cities during 2019

Vodafone will launch 5G in 19 towns and cities across the UK during 2019.

Today we are revealing that customers in 12 more cities will benefit from faster mobile data speeds and an ultra-responsive network when 5G goes live later this year. These additional locations join the seven cities that are already live or switching on soon under our UK-wide trial, which started last year.

Vodafone became the first UK company to carry 5G traffic over a commercial mobile network in October 2018 from a location in Salford, Greater Manchester. Now sites in Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool have been switched on and are streaming live 5G mobile data traffic to and from the Internet, using the latest compatible routers.

Meanwhile our engineers have installed 5G antennas and associated equipment in Birmingham, Glasgow and London ahead of going live. All our mobile sites are connected to Vodafone RedStream, our nationwide optical fibre network, with connections giving speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second to ensure customers wishing to stream video without buffering can do so even in built-up areas at busy times of the day.

Alongside the seven cities already announced, we will be launching 5G in Birkenhead, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Guildford, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Wolverhampton this year. And of course, we will also be launching 5G in Newbury, the original home of Vodafone and the location of our technology headquarters.

In addition to live field trials, Vodafone is also rigorously testing the performance of 5G smartphones, processors and routers in our Newbury technology headquarters using the latest industry standards which were approved in December 2018. This means customers can be assured that the service will work seamlessly when launched later in 2019.

5G promises device speeds around 10 times faster than 4G, meaning high quality 4K video calls and downloads will be delivered even quicker to smartphones and tablets. Data transfer of less than 20 milliseconds will be standard, which is great news for mobile users like gamers, who up until now have had to rely on home broadband when playing online. 5G will also deliver response times of less than five milliseconds into smart factories, connecting robots and mobile machines, connecting British business like never before.

Vodafone UK Chief Technology Officer Executive Scott Petty said: “Our multi-billion-pound network investment and leading position in setting global standards will ensure our customers have the very latest 5G releases and technology. 5G will also usher in a new era where everyone and everything is better connected, whether you are running a hotel in Portsmouth or broadcasting live at MediaCity in Salford.”

In addition to the 12 new cities announced today, our investment in the latest Active Antenna (Massive MIMO) technology means many existing 4G sites are now 5G ready. This technology effectively provides multiple-data ‘channels’ from a single antenna, coupled with our 3.4GHz 5G spectrum. Vodafone secured the largest block of this 5G spectrum at last year’s auction.