5G Coverage and Rollout
5G coverage overview
EE became the first mobile operator to launch 5G in the UK. That was back in May, 2019, and since then we’ve seen Vodafone, O2 and Three launch their own 5G services, along with some MVNOs (discussed below).
| Network | 5G Launch Date | Major Towns and Cities with 5G |
|---|---|---|
.png) | May, 2019 | 41 |
.png) | July 2019 | 26 |
 | February, 2020 | 38 |
 | October 2019 | 21 |
 | October, 2019 | 41 |
 | January, 2020 | 21 |
 | March, 2020 | 21 |
 | October, 2019 | 26 |
Areas with 5G coverage right now
There are currently 73 major towns and cities in the UK with 5G coverage on at least one mobile network.
EE 5G coverage is currently available in 41 major locations (plus numerous smaller ones), Vodafone 5G is in 26 locations (plus a number of smaller ones), O2 is in 21, Three is in 38 (as well as offering 5G Home Broadband in London). The major 5G locations are listed below.
| EE +BT | Vodafone +VOXI | Three | O2 +Sky +Tesco | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Bath | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Belfast | ✔ | ✔ | – | ✔ |
| Birkenhead | – | ✔ | ✔ | Summer 2020 |
| Birmingham | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Blackpool | – | Q1 2020 | ✔ | Q1 2020 |
| Bootle | – | ✔ | – | – |
| Bradford | – | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Brighton | – | – | ✔ | Summer 2020 |
| Bristol | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Cardiff | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Chatham | ✔ | – | ✔ | – |
| Coventry | ✔ | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Derby | 2020 | – | – | ✔ |
| Doncaster | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Dudley | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Dundee | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Edinburgh | ✔ | ✔ | – | ✔ |
| Gatwick | – | ✔ | – | – |
| Gillingham | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Glasgow | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Guildford | ✔ | 2020 | ✔ | Q1 2020 |
| Hamilton | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Harlow | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Hemel Hempstead | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Huddersfield | ✔ | – | ✔ | – |
| Hull | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Kingston Upon Thames | ✔ | – | – | Q1 2020 |
| Ipswich | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Lancaster | – | ✔ | – | – |
| Leeds | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Leicester | ✔ | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Lichfield | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Lisburn | ✔ | – | – | ✔ |
| Liverpool | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Llandudno | – | ✔ | – | – |
| London | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Luton | – | – | ✔ | Summer 2020 |
| Maidstone | ✔ | – | ✔ | – |
| Manchester | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Motherwell | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Newbury | – | ✔ | – | Summer 2020 |
| Newcastle | ✔ | – | – | ✔ |
| Northampton | ✔ | – | – | Summer 2020 |
| Norwich | – | – | – | ✔ |
| Nottingham | ✔ | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Oldham | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Paisley | – | ✔ | – | – |
| Peterborough | 2020 | – | ✔ | – |
| Plymouth | 2020 | ✔ | ✔ | Summer 2020 |
| Preston | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Reading | – | ✔ | ✔ | March 2020 |
| Rochdale | ✔ | ✔ | – | – |
| Romford | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Salford | ✔ | ✔ | – | – |
| Sheffield | ✔ | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Slough | – | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Solihull | ✔ | ✔ | – | – |
| St. Albans | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Stevenage | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Stockport | – | ✔ | – | – |
| Stoke-on-Trent | – | ✔ | – | ✔ |
| Sunderland | ✔ | – | ✔ | Summer 2020 |
| Sutton Coalfield | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Swansea | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Swindon | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Wakefield | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Walsall | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Warrington | – | ✔ | – | Summer 2020 |
| Watford | ✔ | – | – | – |
| West Bromwich | ✔ | – | – | – |
| Wigan | – | – | ✔ | – |
| Wolverhampton | ✔ | ✔ | Q1 2020 | Summer 2020 |
It should be noted that when a mobile operator states that 5G coverage is available in a city such as Manchester, it does not mean that Manchester has city-wide coverage – more likely it will be limited to the most heavily populated or trafficked areas. This will change in time.
Areas getting 5G coverage in 2020
5G coverage will roll out to at least a further 18 major towns and cities during 2020. You can see these below.
| Town/City | EE | Vodafone | Three | O2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | – | Q1 2020 | – | Q1 2020 |
| Cambridge | 2020 | – | – | Summer 2020 |
| Eton | – | – | – | Q1 2020 |
| Gloucester | 2020 | – | – | – |
| Hove | – | – | – | Summer 2020 |
| Middlesbrough | – | – | Q1 2020 | – |
| Milton Keynes | – | – | Q1 2020 | Summer 2020 |
| Portsmouth | 2020 | Q1 2020 | – | Summer 2020 |
| Rotherham | – | – | Q1 2020 | – |
| Southampton | 2020 | Q1 2020 | – | Summer 2020 |
| Windsor | – | – | – | Q1 2020 |
| Worcester | 2020 | – | – | – |
Areas with no confirmed 5G launch dates
If your town or city is not listed in either of the sections above then check our full coverage pages for each individual network, as these also include smaller locations due to get 5G. If there’s no sign of your town or city there though, then at the time of writing there is no information available on when 5G will come to your area on any of the UK’s networks.
When will MVNOs launch 5G?
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) don’t own their own physical network and instead use one of the UK’s core networks (EE, O2, Three and Vodafone) to provide their service. Therefore, they are reliant on the core networks allowing them to provide 5G to their customers.
So far BT, VOXI and Sky Mobile have already launched a 5G service, while Smarty has announced that it will be offering 5G at some point in the future.
 | Asda Mobile 5G Coverage Asda Mobile hasn’t so far announced any 5G plans. If and when it launches 5G it should have coverage in the same places as EE. | ||
 | BT 5G Coverage BT has launched 5G in 50 locations – the same selection as EE. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 | FreedomPop 5G Coverage FreedomPop hasn’t said if or when it will launch a 5G service, but it will likely have coverage in the same places as Three if or when it does, as that’s its network partner. | ||
.png) | Giffgaff 5G Coverage Giffgaff hasn’t yet spoken about 5G, but as an O2 MVNO it should have coverage in the same places as that network if and when it launches 5G. | ||
 | iD Mobile 5G Coverage As a Three MVNO, iD Mobile will be reliant on that network’s coverage if and when it launches 5G, but iD Mobile hasn’t yet outlined its 5G plans. | ||
 | Lycamobile 5G Coverage Lycamobile hasn’t said anything about its 5G plans yet, but it should have the same coverage as O2 if and when it does launch 5G. | ||
.jpg) | Plusnet Mobile 5G Coverage Plusnet Mobile is owned by BT, so it will offer the same 5G coverage as that network (and EE) if and when it rolls out 5G, but so far it hasn’t announced any 5G plans. | ||
.png){kind=logo} | SMARTY Mobile 5G Coverage SMARTY Mobile has confirmed that it will be offering 5G but has not yet said when. However, we know that it will presumably have coverage in the same places as Three, since it uses that network’s infrastructure. That means coverage in parts of 66 UK towns and cities. | ||
.jpg) | Sky Mobile 5G Coverage Sky Mobile has now launched its 5G service. It uses O2’s infrastructure and spectrum, so its coverage is the same. That means it has 5G in 21 towns and cities at the time of writing. | ||
.png) | Tesco Mobile 5G Coverage Tesco Mobile launched 5G on 3rd March, 2020. It uses the O2 mobile network so it offers 5G coverage in the exact same areas as O2. | ||
.png) | Virgin Mobile 5G Coverage Virgin Mobile hasn’t outlined its 5G plans yet, but it will likely share EE’s 5G coverage if and when it starts offering 5G. | ||
| VOXI 5G Coverage VOXI has now launched a 5G service. As it’s a Vodafone MVNO it has 5G coverage in the same 40 UK locations. It also offers 5G roaming. |
