Three UK continues rollout of 5G across the UK

Three UK have sent out an update on their 5G rollout plans and have announced they are now live in 154 towns and cities across the country.

With data being such a huge reason to choose a network and competition so strong here, Three are wanting to let people know of their huge £2bn investment in the network as well as their huge spectrum holding.

Spectrum is the magical airwaves that connect you to the network from the masts, and the more you have, the more capacity and speeds you can offer.

Thanks to the purchase of UK Broadband several years ago, Three own by far the largest share of 5G spectrum, but most important is how it works.

Three are able to use 100Mhz of contiguous spectrum which means the airwaves are bunched up together, this means super fast downloads, and in testing before lockdown was how I was able to hit 1.4Gbps in London.

In the press release below the company also confirm their first set of Ericsson sites are now live and serving customers, this is on the back of the government making all networks remove Huawei 5G equipment before September 2027

Press Release

Three UK continues rollout of 5G across the UK

• Three UK have 5G live in 154towns and cities being serviced by over 800 sites across the UK
• 5G network is recognised as the fastest in UK in Q3, according to Ookla
• Partnership with Ericsson includes rollout of 5G and improvements to 4G network
• Rollout of Ericsson 5G sites has begun in Manchester, Glasgow and Reading

Three UK continues the rollout of its 5G network with the launch of its first Ericsson 5G sites which are now live for our customers in Manchester, Glasgow and Reading.  

Three launched 5G back in August 2019 and is now available to customers in 154towns and cities being serviced by over 800 sites across the UK. Customers using Three’s 5G service will benefit from the UK’s fastest 5G network with median download speeds in excess of 200Mbps in Q3, according to Ookla*. 

The new sites mark the beginning of the next stage of Three’s 5G rollout which will see the connectivity extended to many more areas across the country.

Three became one of over 100 service providers worldwide to establish a 5G commercial agreement with Ericsson back in July. The partnership will help boost network efficiency and enable a cost-effective and rapid extension of 5G across the UK.

Susan Buttsworth, Chief Operating Officer at Three UK said:

“We’re pleased to have our first Ericsson sites live on our network. Ericsson are a key partner in the transformation of our network. Our customers use 3.5 times more data than the industry average so the investments that we are making are vital to enhancing current performance of our 4G network, futureproofing it and delivering on our promise of providing better connectivity, every day for every customer.”

The partnership with Ericsson to rollout our 5G network is part of a £2billion investment into the transformation of Three UKs Network and IT infrastructure, and also includes huge improvements to our 4G network. 

As part of this investment, we have also launched 20 new data centres, made significant improvements to our fibre backhaul capabilities and completed the rollout of VoLTE across our entire 4G network.

All of these improvements are helping us ensure better connectivity, every day, for every customer.