Six months after it first offered “the country’s best mobile connectivity in and out of home” to its customers, EE has announced that it will make its 5G standalone (5G SA) mobile network available to more than 28 million people across 50 major towns and cities by the end of March 2025. This adds 35 more major conurbations to the 5G SA footprint.
5G SA has been available in the UK for just over 18 months, and research has shown that UK businesses are already set to invest in both smartphone and advanced 5G SA mobile services, highlighting how critical reliable data connections are to success.
The research found that a vast majority of customers already regard the roll-out of 5G SA as either important or extremely important, adding that lower latency would help business growth, and that they increase 5G investments when advanced capabilities are made available to derive a better competitive advantage through enabling innovation.
In support of the ongoing coverage roll-out and wider smartphone ecosystem, EE said it was making 5G standalone available to all new and upgrading customers taking any EE handset plan, enabling more consumers to access this next-generation network experience.
The initial launch cities included Bath, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield. The new locations that are due to gain access to EE’s 5G standalone network include Altrincham, Blackburn, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Corby, Cwmbran, Doncaster, Exeter, Huddersfield, Hyde, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Port Talbot, Rotherham, Sale, Sunderland, Wakefield, Walkden and Wilmslow. EE added that it only announces availability once locations have at least 95% outdoor coverage.
Since EE first launched its service, the availability of smartphones and connected devices capable of harnessing 5G SA has grown considerably, with brands including Apple, Samsung, Google, Motorola, Nokia, TCL and Honor now offering compatible smartphones, many of which also have built-in artificial intelligence (AI) applications on their devices, such as Galaxy AI and Gemini AI.
5G SA is a major business focus of EE for 2025 and the company ended the previous year highlighting how Belfast’s Christmas Market became the site of the company’s first real-world deployment of 5G SA network slicing capabilities, supporting faster and more resilient mobile payments. For what was a two-week trial at the famous market, a dedicated slice of the EE 5G network was partitioned for use in the renowned Lavery’s Beer Tent to support its eight mobile payment terminals, enabling card and mobile payments for thousands of customers.
Commenting on the new development, Ben Wood, chief analyst at research firm CCS Insight, said: “Last year, we predicted that 5G standalone networks would get a boost as AI-powered services became more popular. With so many more compatible smartphones now available, it’s great to see enhanced 5G network technology being deployed to millions more people across the UK, helping them to benefit from improvements in performance so they can get the most out of cutting-edge AI features on the latest devices.”
Malcolm Cubitt, director of mobile at EE, added: “5G standalone is giving many customers a better and more reliable mobile experience, especially in busy locations. As we rapidly expand our network footprint to cover more than 40% of the UK population, we are widening its accessibility so more people can benefit – especially those looking to harness the power of [the latest] features on the newest smartphones.”
