O2 confirms first four cities for 5G rollout

Charlotte Whyatt • 21 Feb 2019

Residents of Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London will be the first to benefit from the technology. 

O2 has revealed the four cities in which it’ll begin its rollout of 5G mobile broadband. 

Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London, which the provider labelled “four corners of the UK”, will see the launch of this next-generation technology before the end of 2019. 

It will then slowly expand out across the rest of the UK as compatible 5G handsets become more widely available. 

Competitors EE, Vodafone and Three have also all announced plans to go live with their 5G networks in 2019. 

5G smartphones currently aren’t for sale anywhere in the world but the very first devices are set for release sometime this summer. 

This includes Samsung’s recently unveiled S10 5G and as-of-yet untitled devices from LG, Huawei and OnePlus. 

O2 previously conducted several 5G trials, including one at the 20,000 seat O2 arena in Greenwich. 

They’ll also be setting up 5G innovations spaces around the country so businesses can test out their products and run experiments to prepare for the upcoming rollout. 

“O2’s 5G network will arrive this year and we want the next-generation of mobile services to launch with a bang. 5G will benefit customers from launch, with better speeds and improved customer experience.” said Mark Evans, CEO of O2’s parent company Telefónica UK. 

Source: Gizmodo UK