Mobile carrier EE has announced that it will launch the UK's first 5G service here in Belfast on May 30th, with pre-orders now open on a range of 5G devices and plans for new 5G services.When Belfast was named as
one of the first UK cities that will get super-fast 5G mobile internet back in February, we became part of a group of 16 major UK cities that the technology would be rolled out to in 2019. Now it looks like we'll be first in line, with BT Group announcing today that its mobile carrier EE will be launching its first UK 5G service in Belfast at the end of the month.
The service is due to go live just over a week from now on May 30th and is launching alongside a series of new 5G-enabled products, with other launches planned in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham and Manchester. Following this, the service will be rapidly rolled out in other major cities across the UK throughout 2019, and more sites have been announced for 2020.
Pre-orders have now opened in EE's store for a range of 5G products, including 5G-enabled smartphones from Samsung, OnePlus, LG, and Oppo. The company is also planning to offer 5GEE WiFi and 5GEE home broadband packages, with prices and availability to be announced. Other services include access to BT Sport HD HDR, and an exclusive "Gamer’s Data Pass" with "zero-rated data."
EE expects customers in Belfast to experience speed increases of 100-150Mbps on 5G even in the busiest areas of the city centre, with some users able to hit insane speeds of up to 1,000Mbps. 5G has the potential to be revolutionary for both consumers and industrial purposes, with massive bandwidth and theoretical response times as low as 1ms. It was
recently estimated that 5G technology could boost Northern Ireland's economy by £283m.
Source: Written based on press release
About the author
Brendan is a Sync NI writer with a special interest in the gaming sector, programming, emerging technology, and physics. To connect with Brendan, feel free to send him an email or follow him on Twitter.
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