In May, EE said that its 5G network had already surpassed 50% population coverage in the U.K.
U.K. telco EE says it has turned up 2.1 GHz frequencies on its network across 14 towns and cities to support the latest 5G smartphones.
EE said in a release that it is rolling out 5G 2.1 GHz spectrum on sites that were previously used to provide 3G signals. The upgrade aims to provide customers with improved indoor coverage, as well as more 5G capacity in busy areas.
The upgrades will be taking place in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff, Belfast, Newport, Perth, Kilmarnock, Eastbourne, Scunthorpe, Chesterfield and Wellingborough.
In addition, EE said it is expanding its 5G network coverage to 14 more, new towns and cities including Bradford, Newport and Southampton.
Christian Thrane, managing director of consumer marketing at EE, said: “To provide customers with the best smartphone experience, we are continually upgrading and expanding our 5G network. By increasing capacity, our customers will get faster speeds and an even more reliable experience.”
In May, EE said that its 5G network had already surpassed 50% population coverage in the country.
EE, which had launched its 5G network in May 2019, claimed to be the only mobile operator to pass this milestone in the U.K. EE also noted the achievement was reached one year ahead of EE’s target and five years ahead of the government’s similar ambition.
The U.K. carrier previously said it expected to reach half of the U.K. population with its 5G service by early 2023. The telco has also said that its 5G network will reach 90% of the country’s territory by 2028.
To reach this benchmark, EE used its 700 MHz 5G spectrum to offer indoor and wider rural coverage. EE secured 2×10 megahertz of paired frequency spectrum in the 700 MHz band at a cost of £280 million (currently $319.7 million); 20 megahertz of supplementary downlink spectrum in the 700 MHz band at a cost of £4 million; and 40 megahertz in the 3.6-3.8 GHz band for £168 million.
Earlier this year, EE claimed to be the first European network to successfully aggregate a 5G signal using seven different spectrum carriers.
The experiment was performed in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies at BT’s Borehamwood lab, and used five 4G spectrum bands and two 5G. The latter included the 3.6 GHz frequencies acquired in U.K.’s latest auction in 2021.
EE noted that the lab tests reached 5G data speeds of 2.2 Gbps in with expected real-world speeds of over 1.7 Gbps on the network. A mobile test device featuring the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform with Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System was used to achieve the milestone, EE said.
