December 2018: Mobile 5G doesn’t mean much unless you have a 5G-equipped modem in your smartphone, which none of the flagship models out currently support. Now that the UN’s International Telecommunication Union has established standards, carriers have started planning roll outs and the infrastructure upgrades required to get ready for the shift.
Apple, Intel, Samsung, and Qualcomm are working together to get the hardware ready in 2019. EE has joined leading European carriers, such as Vodafone and Three UK, with plans to make 2019 the year for launching mobile 5G. EE, the UK’s largest cellular carrier, has announced plans to launch 5G mobile service with a 16 city rollout scheduled for 2019.
As part of the cellular company’s ambitious 5G plans, EE is launching 5G home broadband service, which will pair a specialized router and external antenna to bring higher speeds to UK homes. The first phase will start with capital cities across the United Kingdom in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales with London, Belfast, Cardiff, and Edinburgh leading the way.
Two cities in England have been added to the first phase rollout. Birmingham and Manchester will join the phase one rollout. EE has announced its plan to focus its efforts on high volume centers within the first six cities, including Hyde Park in London, Manchester and Belfast airports, Edinburgh’s Waverley Station, the Welsh Assembly, and Birmingham’s Bullring shopping center.
Following the initial rollout phase, EE plans to take 5g to 10 additional UK cities including Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, and Bristol. The first 1,500 sites that the EE has planned to upgrade in the early phases are responsible for in excess of 25% of the UK’s total cell traffic.
In a fast paced with and developments in technology coming faster than ever, the birth of 5G is predicted to have a huge impact on the telecommunications industry and the business world in general. Be prepared for the future and get in touch with Happy Telecom to talk to us about integrating the coming 5G technology into your current Telecommunications strategy.
Get in touch by calling Happy Telecom on 0800 285 1533 or email sales@happytelecom.co.uk.