As of March 2022, Vodafone provides 5G in 380 locations across Europe, of which 141 are in the UK
Vodafone has switched on its 5G network in 12 further locations across the UK, the carrier said in a release.
New locations include Coventry, Dursley, Golborne, Keynsham, Llantwit Major, Lydney, Redditch, Rickmansworth, South Lackenby, Thornbury, Watford and Wigan.
Andrea Dona, Vodafone’s chief network officer in the UK, said: “The arrival of 5G gives our customers some of the fastest mobile data speeds in the UK, and a mobile network they can rely on. It will open-up all sorts of possibilities for our consumer customers, as well as local businesses and their employees, supporting the local economy and helping to deliver a greener, more prosperous and digitally connected region.”
“We’re investing in our network across the UK and look forward to seeing how that investment will benefit local people and businesses,” Dona said.
Vodafone previously announced that it will shut down its 3G network in 2023 with the aim of enhancing 4G and 5G coverage.
As of March 2022, Vodafone provides 5G in 380 locations across Europe — 141 in the UK and 239 across Germany, Spain, Italy and Ireland. The telco’s 4G network coverage currently reaches over 99% of the UK population.
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Vodafone initially launched 5G services in the U.K. in July of 2019. The telco’s initial offering covered parts of Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Glasgow.
The telco’s 5G network reached 124 towns and cities across the U.K. by mid-2021.
In June 2021, Vodafone launched a commercial pilot of 5G Standalone service in London, Manchester and Cardiff.
The commercial pilot will focus on testing new capabilities being introduced as part of 5G Standalone technologies, such as network slicing. It will also enable partners to test new Standalone-enabled devices on a live network.
Earlier this year, Vodafone announced it had switched on what it claims to be the first 5G Open RAN (O-RAN) site in the UK. The site installed in the city of Bath is the first of 2,500 5G and 4G O-RAN sites that Vodafone committed to deploy as part of the U.K. government’s ambition to accelerate the development of the Open RAN ecosystem. Vodafone said that the 2,500 sites are expected to be fully deployed by 2027.
The U.K. telco also noted that O-RAN 4G and 5G antennas from Samsung and NEC will be deployed from mid-2022. Once interoperability tests for these radio units have been completed in the lab, the units can be deployed in a “plug-and-play” manner on the existing O-RAN infrastructure.