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Where is 5G coverage available & when will it come to my area?

5G coverage. What coverage is in my area.

5G has launched in a number of places here in the UK, but as with previous generations of the technology (namely 3G and 4G), the actual 5G coverage is limited at launch to a number of major cities. The roll-out of 5G is gaining traction and the main question on everyone's mind is when does 5G come to my area?

The good news is that 5G is already available in 17 towns and cities via at least one mobile operator. More towns and cities are confirmed as getting 5G before the end of 2019 and two mobile operators have even confirmed their 2020 5G launch locations.

In this article we will run you through everything you need to know about 5G coverage in your area. If you are looking to head straight over to the 5G coverage checkers for each operator simply follow these links: EE, Vodafone, Three and O2.

Contents

5G coverage overview
Areas with 5G coverage right now
Areas getting 5G coverage in 2019/2020
Areas with no confirmed 5G launch dates
When will MVNOs launch 5G?

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 and Three launch their own 5G services, with O2 scheduled to launch in October, 2019.

Network	5G Launch Date	5G Launch Cities
	May 2019	6 Find out more
	July 2019	15 Find out more
	August 2019	1 Find out more
	October 2019	6 Find out more

Areas with 5G coverage right now

There are currently 17 town and cities in the UK with 5G coverage on at least one mobile network.

EE 5G coverage is currently available in 6 locations, Vodafone in 15 locations and Three are offering 5G Home Broadband in London.

City	EE	Vodafone	Three	O2
Belfast	✔	-	-	October 2019
Birkenhead	-	✔	-	Summer 2020
Birmingham	✔	✔	End of 2019	Summer 2020
Bristol	End of 2019	✔	End of 2019	End of 2019
Bolton	-	✔	End of 2019	-
Cardiff	✔	✔	End of 2019	October 2019
Edinburgh	✔	-	End of 2019	October 2019
Gatwick	-	✔	-	-
Glasgow	End of 2019	✔	End of 2019	Summer 2020
Lancaster	-	✔	-	-
Liverpool	End of 2019	✔	End of 2019	Summer 2020
London	✔	✔	✔	October 2019
Manchester	✔	✔	End of 2019	Summer 2020
Newbury	-	✔	-	Summer 2020
Plymouth	2020	✔	-	Summer 2020
Stoke-on-Trent	-	✔	-	End of 2019
Wolverhampton	2020	✔	End of 2019	Summer 2020
Coverage Checker	Check Coverage	Check Coverage	Check Coverage	Check Coverage

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.

To check out which areas of the above cities have 5G coverage right now you can use the coverage checkers above or find out via our individual coverage pages below:

Areas getting 5G coverage in 2019/2020

5G coverage will roll-out to a further 26 towns and cities on at least one network before the end of 2019, while another 9 locations will be added by Summer 2020.

Town/City	EE	Vodafone	Three	O2
Aberdeen	2020	-	-	Summer 2020
Blackpool	-	End of 2019	-	End of 2019
Bradford	-	-	End of 2019	Summer 2020
Brighton	-	-	End of 2019	Summer 2020
Bournemouth	-	End of 2019	-	End of 2019
Cambridge	2020	-	-	Summer 2020
Coventry	End of 2019	-	End of 2019	End of 2019
Derby	2020	-	End of 2019	End of 2019
Eton	-	-	-	End of 2019
Gloucester	2020	-	-	-
Guilford	-	End of 2019	-	End of 2019
Hove	-	-	-	Summer 2020
Hull	End of 2019	-	End of 2019	-
Kingston	-	-	-	Summer 2020
Leeds	End of 2019	-	End of 2019	October 2019
Leicester	End of 2019	-	End of 2019	End of 2019
Lisburn	-	-	-	End of 2019
Luton	-	-	-	Summer 2020
Middlesbrough	-	-	End of 2019	-
Milton Keynes	-	-	End of 2019	Summer 2020
Newcastle	End of 2019	-	-	Summer 2020
Northampton	-	-	-	Summer 2020
Nottingham	End of 2019		End of 2019	End of 2019
Norwich	-	-	-	End of 2019
Peterborough	2020	-	-	-
Portsmouth	2020	End of 2019	-	Summer 2020
Reading	-	End of 2019	End of 2019	End of 2019
Rotherham	-	-	End of 2019	-
Sheffield	End of 2019	-	End of 2019	Summer 2020
Slough	-	-	End of 2019	October 2019
Southampton	2020	End of 2019	-	Summer 2020
Sunderland	-	-	End of 2019	Summer 2020
Warrington	-	End of 2019	-	Summer 2020
Windsor	-	-	-	End of 2019
Worcester	2020	-	-	-

Areas with no confirmed 5G launch dates

If your town or city is not listed in either of the sections above there is currently 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, Sky Mobile and VOXI have confirmed they will begin offering 5G before the end of 2019, while Smarty have announced they 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 not yet launched 5G in any location but is scheduled to launch this Autumn in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Manchester, with another 20 scheduled launch locations.
		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.
		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.
		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.
		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 London at a minimum, but Three has 24 other launch locations scheduled.
		Sky Mobile 5G Coverage Sky Mobile has announced that it will launch 5G by November. When it does, it will use O2's infrastructure, so its coverage should be the same. That means you can expect 5G coverage in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Slough and Leeds at a minimum, but O2 has another 44 scheduled launch locations.
		Tesco Mobile 5G Coverage Tesco Mobile hasn't yet announced its 5G plans, but it is currently partnered with O2, so expect the same 5G coverage if and when it launches on Tesco.
		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 confirmed that it will launch 5G at some point during 2019. As it's a Vodafone MVNO you can expect coverage in parts of Birkenhead, Birmingham, Bolton, Bristol, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow, Lancaster, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newbury, Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton, with another 7 scheduled launch locations.