5G arrives in Manchester as Vodafone launch new super-fast network

This week Vodafone has launched its new 5G network in Manchester alongside six other UK cities.

Offering internet speeds promising to be ten to twenty times that of the 4G network, the service has also been rolled out in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool and London.

The rollout comes hot on the heels of BT-owned service provider EE, which launched its own superfast wifi service here in Manchester at the end of May.

Vodafone plans to release four handsets and a home router called the 5G Gigacube onto its network in the coming month – two of which are made by Huawei.

The Chinese tech giant is heavily involved in constructing all four of the UK’s major network providers 5G networks, despite recent security concerns. It has already built Vodafone and EE’s networks and has won 5G contracts to build networks for Three and O2 when they go live later this year.

Following the sacking of Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson over a leak relating to Huwaei earlier this year, the government is still yet to confirm whether the company will be granted permission to build the UK’s next generation of wireless infrastructure.

Vodafone hopes to expand its 5G network coverage to 12 more UK cities by the end of the year, bringing 5G to a total of 19 cities by 2020.

The planned expansion will span Birkenhead, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Guildford, Newbury, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Wolverhampton.

Outside of the UK, it is offering 5G roaming across Germany, Italy, and Spain.