Three switches on 5G home broadband
Three is the latest firm to switch on its 5G network, starting with a 5G home broadband service across parts of London.
The firm is the third operator to kick off next-generation connection speeds in the UK, although it will not be available to 5G-capable smartphones until later this year.
5G technology is the next generation of mobile network and is expected to offer internet speeds several times faster than that of current-generation 4G.
Three follows EE and Vodafone, which launched their 5G offerings in May and July respectively.
The company is planning to expand its 5G network to 25 other towns and cities across the UK including Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Sunderland before the end of the year.
Three chief executive Dave Dyson believes its launch will “revolutionise the home broadband experience” as a simple ‘plug-and-play’ service that swaps traditional landline connections for the 5G masts used to connect smartphones.
“No more paying for landline rental, no more waiting for engineers, and even a same-day delivery option,” said Mr Dyson.
“It really is the straightforward plug-and-play broadband that customers have been waiting for.
“We’ve taken a simple approach with one single truly unlimited data plan to give customers the opportunity to fully explore 5G and all its exciting possibilities.
“The ease and immediacy of it all means home broadband using 5G is going to be key to the future of the connected home.”
Adds Ben Wood, Chief of Research, CCS Insight following Three’s announcement.
“This is Three UK’s first tentative step into the 5G market and given it’s a pure play operator focused on mobile connectivity its unsurprising it has decided to offer a disruptive 5G home broadband solution, particularly given it is able to leverage the former Relish assets that it had acquired. It will be interesting to see how big its coverage footprint at point of launch in the London area and how quickly it is able to expand.”
“Three UK is in pole position when it comes to its potential with 5G given the huge slice of spectrum it owns. The 100MHz of contiguous spectrum is the optimal package when it comes to rolling out 5G technology. This is a first toe in the water for the 5G service and I guess we’ll really find out what Three can offer when the wider 5G network is turned on and you can use it with a smartphone.”
“With the most data hungry mobile customers in the UK, 5G can’t come soon enough for Three from a capacity and performance perspective. This 5G broadband solution is a first step, but getting 5G handsets into its users’ hands has to be the big focus going forward.”
O2 recently revealed that it will roll out its 5G network from October.
