The new year sees Vodafone continue with its expansive 5G rollout, adding Belfast, Edinburgh, and Leeds to its list of cities to have received the 5G switch-on.
Vodafone’s 5G coverage in and around Greater Manchester is also improving, with the towns of Cheadle, Rochdale, and Stockport also having their new 5G networks activated.
Vodafone now boasts of over 100 locations with access to their live 5G network, 34 of which are in the UK.
On top of its new 5G locations, Vodafone has also announced the addition of five 4G roaming locations in the Republic of Ireland: Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford.
The company further revealed that is has become the first UK provider to introduce 5G Multi-Operator Radio Access Network (MORAN) technology. This technology better facilitates the sharing of mobile base stations.
While details about the MORAN technology’s deployment were not provided, it can be safely assumed that it will feature in the company’s network sharing agreement with O2 that was announced last year. In a similar vein, MORAN technology will be a key asset in delivering the goals of the UK government, which pledged £1bn towards the Shared Rural Network scheme that aims to bring 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by 2025.
“We have started the new year as we mean to go on,” said Vodafone UK CEO Nick Jeffrey. “We now offer 5G in double the number of places than our nearest rival and we have significantly boosted the capacity of our network. It is ready for the arrival in 2020 of some great new 5G handsets and the next big software release bringing ultra-low latency. Together, these will push 5G to the next level.”
