Vodafone says it will be trialing its new 5G network later this year in 5 cities, including Liverpool and Manchester.
The roll-outs will begin in October and November, with engineers already laying the groundwork at more than 40 sites across the cities.
The company said that it was also in discussions about testing new 5G applications, such as augmented and virtual reality in offices, factories and hospitals.
“We want to make 5G and new fibre broadband services available to consumers and business throughout the UK, delivering a Gigabit society for all. We will also be bringing ultra-fast 4G to several hundred sites in hard to reach rural areas this year, building on our position as the network that offers the best voice coverage in the UK,” stated Vodafone UK chief executive, Nick Jeffery.
It’s expected that the full commercial launch of 5G will happen in 2020, with Vodafone stating that it was already testing “photonic” technology, which was capable of carrying information over its core network at speeds of up to 400 Gigabits per second.
