UK cities will get 5G networks at the beginning of July, says Vodafone

UK mobile service provider Vodafone announced on Tuesday that its 5G service will be live in seven cities across the country from 3 July.

The switch-on will allow businesses and consumers on the network, and will allow users from Italy, Germany and Spain to roam on the network later this year.

Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and London will be the first seven cities to receive the service, and this will extend to (take a breath) Birkenhead, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Guildford, Newbury, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Wolverhampton “later this year”.

The owner of South Africa’s Vodacom also noted that its first 5G devices will go on sale in the UK “next week”, including the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G, Samsung S10 5G and Huawei Mate 20 X. The latter two, however, will only be available to preorder.

The Huawei Mate X is also set to debut in “summer” alongside a 5G router, but Vodafone did not give a specific launch date.

South Africa’s 5G rollout won’t be too far behind. Data-only network Rain will also switch on its 5G network in Cape Town and Johannesburg this year.

Feature image: Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G, via Vodafone