BT has said it will deliver 5G Standalone technology to 99 per cent of the UK population by the end of 2030.

The telecommunications company claims it will complete the task four years ahead of any other UK mobile operator's stated projections.

EE, which was acquired by BT in 2016, will deploy a new generation of Massive MIMO units.
These are antenna integrated radios that deliver maximum network experience and up to four times greater uplink capacity.

BT said that two of these units are live in Leeds, with “hundreds” more planned by the end of the decade.

Last month BT announced that it was the first operator in the world to launch Advanced RAN Coordination (ARC) in its distributed mobile network.

This enables mobile sites near to each other to remotely pair up and share capacity, which the company said dramatically boosts network performance.

To make the benefits of this technology clearer for customers, BT said it will use the term 5G+ rather than the technical industry shorthand 5GSA or 5G Standalone to make the language more simple and relatable.

BT claims its network has been built to deliver up to 100 times more capacity than 4G connectivity, which makes it better at handling demands from lots of devices at once and delivering more reliable mobile internet in busy areas.

While achieving 99 per cent 5G+ coverage is an important milestone, BT added that this will not fully resolve every challenge around mobile coverage and capacity.

The company called on the UK government to provide “targeted interventions” to address specific issues, such as improving connectivity along railways.

“A valuable next step would be for Government to launch a Mobile Market Review,” the company said. “This could examine planning reforms to accelerate the rollout of new network equipment, to increase the availability of spectrum (the radio waves that enable mobile coverage), and consider removing the Annual Licence Fees currently paid by operators to use spectrum.”

BT added that there are “massive opportunities” for the UK to accelerate the digitalisation of public services and to support SMEs to make the most of new digital opportunities through 5G+ technology.

Last month, VodafoneThree named Ericsson and Nokia as key partners to build out its 5G infrastructure across the UK over the next decade in a deal worth £2.7 billion.

VodafoneThree confirmed that the communications tech giants will be tasked with delivering part of its £11 billion network investment plan, which aims to build the UK’s most advanced standalone 5G network, reaching 99.95 per cent population coverage by 2034.

Under the agreement, Ericsson will deploy its high-performance next-generation radio access network (RAN) and core network solutions at over 10,000 sites across the UK.
Nokia will supply equipment from its high-performance RAN product range to approximately 7,000 sites across the UK.

---