- EE switches on 5G in 35 new UK towns and cities, bringing total place count to 160
- Top tourist landmarks and coastal locations including Brighton Pier, York Minster, Swansea Bay and Sandbanks Beach now covered by EE’s award-winning 5G network as lockdown restrictions ease across UK and non-essential retail stores, hospitality venues and attractions reopen
- Appetite for 5G technology continues to soar, with EE set to hit one million active 5G customer milestone this month
EE has today announced it has switched on 5G in 35 new towns and cities across the UK.
EE has added outdoor 5G coverage to some of the UK’s most popular tourist landmarks, historical sites, and coastal locations as lockdown restrictions start to ease and non-essential retail stores, hospitality venues and attractions begin to reopen from next week. According to VisitEngland’s Great Britain Tourism Survey, more than 122 million domestic overnight trips were taken in Great Britain in 2019, with more than 27 million of those to seaside locations.
Once open in the coming weeks, EE customers can enjoy using 5G technology at:
- Brighton Pier
- Exeter Cathedral
- Norwich Cathedral
- Paignton Sands
- Sandbanks Beach, Poole
- Swansea Maritime Quarter & Swansea Bay
- V&A Museum, Dundee
- York Minster & York Museum Gardens
Residents, businesses, and visitors in 160 UK towns and cities can now benefit from the fast speeds, low latency and increased reliability of EE’s 5G network, with the technology today switched on in:
- Aldridge
- Alexandria
- Aylesbury
- Ayr
- Barnsley
- Biggleswade
- Blackburn
- Bolton
- Brighton
- Chester
- Colchester
- Dundee
- Exeter
- Grantham
- Gravesend
- Harrogate
- Lincoln
- Milton Keynes
- Norwich
- Paignton
- Poole
- Portsmouth
- Rickmansworth
- Runcorn
- Southport
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Stratford-upon-Avon
- Sunbury-on-Thames
- Swansea
- Swindon
- Widnes
- Wigan
- Worcester
- York
In addition, EE is set to achieve the milestone of reaching one million active 5G customers –those which have a 5G plan and a 5G-enabled device – this month. London, Birmingham and Manchester are the top three home cities of those using EE’s 5G network, followed by:
- Glasgow
- Bristol
- Nottingham
- Newcastle
- Liverpool
- Leeds
- Leicester
According to independent tests by RootMetrics, EE’s 5G availability is higher than all other networks in the UK’s four capital cities – Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. In London, availability on EE is more than double that of the second placed operator, almost four times that of the third placed operator and six times greater than the last placed operator.
Marc Allera, CEO Consumer Division, BT, said: “We’ve announced that we’ve switched on our award-winning 5G network in a further 35 towns and cities across the UK, fulfilling the commitment we set last year to double our 5G place count. With the gradual easing of lockdown restrictions expected in the coming weeks and months, the increased capacity and faster speeds of our 5G network will ensure our customers stay connected as footfall starts to increase in historically busy places.”
EE secured vital new spectrum in the first stage of Ofcom’s 5G auction last month, which will enable EE to expand and enhance its 5G network even further once rolled out into the network.
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Notes to editors
For more information, please contact:
Helen Line – [email protected]
Alexander Jackman – [email protected]
Paul Nolan, CCgroup – [email protected]
Dan Rawle, CCgroup – [email protected]
EE only announces a new 5G location when there are meaningful levels of 5G coverage there. At this stage in EE’s 5G rollout, the criteria which needs to be met incudes: a minimum population of 10,000 people, 5G coverage to a least a third of that local population, and coverage in the town/city centre.
‘Active’ 5G customers are defined as those that are actively able to use EE’s 5G network, as they have both the right plan and a 5G-enabled device. EE has 2.1 million ‘5G ready’ customers (as of 31st December 2020).
About EE
EE runs the UK’s biggest and fastest mobile network, offering superfast connections in more places than any other operator. EE brought the first 4G network to the UK in October 2012, and launched the UK’s first 5G network in May 2019.
EE has received extensive independent recognition, including being named the UK’s no.1 5G network by RootMetrics® in 2020 and 2021, and the UK’s best network every year since 2014 for the following awards: The Mobile Choice Awards, The Mobile Industry Awards and by RootMetrics®.
As well as delivering mobile services to consumers, small and medium businesses, corporate customers and Government programmes, EE also provides home and business broadband using both 4G and fixed line connections.
EE is committed to being number one for service in the industry, and has nearly 600 shops across the UK. EE remains the only mobile provider to answer 100% of customer calls in the UK and Ireland and was recognised as the UK’s Best Large Contact Centre by the UK Customer Experience Awards 2018 and Welsh Contact Centre Awards 2019. EE was awarded The Sunday Times’ Best 100 Companies to Work for in 2018 and 2019, as well as being named Best Employer 2018 by the European Contact Centre & Customer Service awards.
EE is part of BT’s Consumer business unit which provides products and services to all of BT’s consumer customers in the UK.
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Source: EE Newsroom
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