Vodafone and O2 are joining forces to bring customers across the UK a more reliable signal and faster speeds.
The UK networks have just announced plans to share 5G active equipment in a bid to launch this new technology to more people sooner.
5G is the future of smartphones with it able to beam internet across the air at much faster speeds.
All the major firms including EE and Three Mobile are in a race to push this new service out across the UK.
However, this latest news could help to give Vodafone and O2 an advantage with the firms boasting that network sharing reaps the benefits of 5G and at the same time reduces the impact on the environment and lowers roll-out costs allowing more investment in services for customers.
Speaking about the news Nick Jeffery, CEO, Vodafone UK, said: “We’re driving our 5G roll-out forward with this agreement, and taking our customers, our business and the whole of the UK with us.
“Greater autonomy in major cities will allow us to accelerate deployment, and together with active network sharing, ensures that our customers will get super-fast 5G in even more places more quickly, using fewer masts.
And Mark Evans, CEO, Telefónica UK, added: “Today is an important step in demonstrating our commitment to invest for the future, with mobile connectivity one of the UK’s most powerful opportunities to strengthen the economy and improve the lives of British people.
“This agreement will enable us to roll-out 5G faster and more efficiently, benefiting customers while delivering value for our business. It also importantly allows us to utilise the spectrum we acquired in the last auction very effectively.”
Although this is good news for customers it’s worth noting that EE has already begun its rollout of 5G and Three Mobile will launch its service next month.
The network says its 5G technology will be at least two times faster – at peak times – than any other UK provider.
Three has also revealed a £2 billion infrastructure investment which includes the acquisition of the UK’s leading 5G spectrum portfolio, a world first cloud core network from Nokia, and a super high-capacity smart antenna network.
HOW MUCH FASTER WILL IT ACTUALLY BE?
Depending on where you are in the country it’s possible to get an average 4G speed of around 20-30Mbps.
That’s as fast as most fixed-line broadband and would allow you to download an HD movie in around 20 minutes.
5G takes things to a new level with average speeds expected to exceed 100Mbps.
It’s also very likely that some users will experience speeds nearing 1Gbps with an HD movie downloading in under 40 seconds.
On a recent test, Express.co.uk managed to see speeds of over 300Mbps.
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