Three UK has today revealed that their new 5G (mobile broadband) network has just gone live in another 110 locations across the United Kingdom (300 in total), which they claim has pushed their “outdoor population coverage” (not geographic) to 29%. The current rollout plan aims to reach 2,500 new sites over the next few years.
The operator’s new 5G network first started to go live in August 2019, although its availability was initially restricted to central London and the only way to use it was via their dedicated unlimited Three Home Broadband service. The network finally began to include regular 5G mobile (Smartphone) services in February 2020 (here) and they’ve been busy deploying ever since.
NOTE: Going LIVE with 5G is not the same as achieving total coverage of an area – it can still take many months, or even years, to fully cover a city etc.
Sadly, Three UK has not supplied a full list of the new locations for their 5G services, but we are told that it includes a number of rural and coastal spots, such as Brimington, Denholme and Littlestone-on-Sea.
The operator is also fairly well positioned for 5G because they could previously harness a total of 140MHz (frequency) across several related radio spectrum bands. One of those includes a 100MHz block of contiguous spectrum in the 3.4-3.8GHz band (here), which is known to be the sweet spot for 5G. On top of that, they recently bagged an extra 20MHz of frequency in the 700MHz band for £280m from Ofcom (here).
More spectrum tends to result in better mobile broadband speeds, at least it doesn’t when deployed properly and with enough backhaul capacity. On this point the operator says they’re “delighted to announce that our continued investment in network technology is paying off for our customers with recognition from Ookla that we are the UK’s Fastest 5G network in Q1-Q2 2021. In addition, we have also been recognised as fastest in Birmingham, Manchester and London.”
David Hennessy, Chief Technology Officer at Three UK, said:
“Keeping our customers at the forefront of every decision we make is why we have continued to invest in our network and IT infrastructure. As we all navigate through uncertain times, our commitment to the expansion of our 5G and 4G rollout is vital to delivering better connectivity, every day for every customer and we will continue to do so.”
However, Three UK neglects to include any data to prove the aforementioned statement (we’ve asked them for it) and Ookla’s website does not yet display a Q1-Q2 2021 report for UK mobile operators. But they do report that median 5G download speeds for the UK in that period were 167.50Mbps across all operators. But judging from past reports, we do think that Ookla might indeed have found Three UK to be the fastest for downloads, although uploads and latency times are also a factor in any broad “fastest” claim.
Finally, the operator says they’ve been busy reconfiguring traffic and routing to “improve its service and ease the higher traffic areas.” The company has now enhanced the configuration of over 2,000 radio sites since April and customers in areas such as Armagh, Omagh, Cookstown, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh should all now be enjoying improved data speeds and latency. Three UK is continuing to enhance more areas, the majority of which are due to be completed by the end of Q3.
NOTE: The average data usage per customer per month on Three UK is currently 17 GigaBytes (Feb 2021 figure). Meanwhile, their network reached an all-time data traffic peak of 808Gbps (Gigabits per second) during the Man City vs PSG semi-final match of the Champions League in May 2021.
UPDATE 4:06pm
Three UK has kindly provided us with a full list of the 300 locations where 5G is now live. Just remember that in many of these areas, they may only be live in a small % part of each location.
Three UK’s 300 5G Locations
ABERDEEN
ABINGDON-ON-THAMES
ACCRINGTON
ADLINGTON
ALDERSHOT
ALDRIDGE
Altofts
Anstey
Armthorpe
ASHFORD
ASHINGTON
Aspull
Aughton
Balloch
BANBURY
BARNSLEY
BARRHEAD
BARROW-IN-FURNESS
BASILDON
BASINGSTOKE
BATH
BEDFORD
BELFAST CITY
Bellshill
BICESTER
BILLERICAY
BILLINGHAM
Birdwell
BIRKENHEAD
BIRMINGHAM
BISHOPS STORTFORD
Bishopthorpe
BLACKBURN
BLACKPOOL
BLYTH
BOREHAMWOOD
BOURNEMOUTH
BRACKNELL
BRADFORD
BRAINTREE
Bransholme
BRENTWOOD
BRIGHOUSE
BRIGHTON
Brimington
BRISTOL
Broadbridge Heath
BROMSGROVE
Brookmans Park
Broughton Astley
BUCKHAVEN
BUCKINGHAM
BURNLEY
BURTON UPON TRENT
BUSHEY
CANNOCK
CARDIFF / CAERDYDD
CARLISLE
Castle Donington
CHATHAM
CHELMSFORD
CHELTENHAM
CHESHAM
CHESTER
CHESTERFIELD
CHORLEY
CHRISTCHURCH
Christleton
Clayton-le-Woods
Clifton
COLCHESTER
Collingham
Copmanthorpe
Corringham
COVENTRY
CRAWLEY
CREWE
CROOK
CRUMLIN
Cullingworth
Danderhall
Denholme
DERBY
DEWSBURY
Dinnington
DONCASTER
Dordon
DUNDEE
DURHAM
Earls Barton
EAST KILBRIDE
EASTLEIGH
Eaton Socon
EDINBURGH
ELLESMERE PORT
ERSKINE
EXMOUTH
FALKIRK
FAVERSHAM
FELIXSTOWE
FORMBY
FRODSHAM
GATESHEAD
GERRARDS CROSS
GLASGOW
GLOUCESTER
GOLBORNE
Gorebridge
GRAYS
GREAT HARWOOD
GREENOCK
GRIMSBY
GUILDFORD
HALIFAX
HAMILTON
HARPENDEN
HARROGATE
Hartley
HATFIELD
HEANOR
Heathcote
Hedge End
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD
Hemsby
HERTFORD
HESWALL
HEYWOOD
Hilton
HORLEY
HORWICH
HOYLAND
HUDDERSFIELD
Huntington
Inchinnan
Ingleby Barwick
IPSWICH
IRLAM
Iver Heath
KEIGHLEY
Kimberley
King’s Hill
Kings Langley
King’s Stanley
KINGSTON UPON HULL
Kinmel Bay / Bae Cinmel
KIRKCALDY
KIRKHAM
Kirkheaton
KIRKLISTON
KIRKNEWTON
LEEDS
LEICESTER
LEIGH
LEYLAND
LINCOLN
Littlestone-on-Sea
LIVERPOOL
LIVINGSTON
LOANHEAD
Locks Heath
LOFTUS
LONDON
London Colney
LOUGHBOROUGH
Lower Stondon
LOWESTOFT
LUTON
LUTTERWORTH
MAIDENHEAD
MAIDSTONE
MANCHESTER
MANSFIELD
MARGATE
Marlow Bottom
Marston Moretaine
Maylandsea
MERTHYR TYDFIL / MERTHYR TUDFUL
METROPOLITAN CASTLEREAGH
METROPOLITAN NEWTOWNABBEY
MIDDLESBROUGH
MILNROW
MILTON KEYNES
MIRFIELD
Moorends
MOSSLEY
MOTHERWELL
Nelson
NESTON
New Rossington
NEWARK-ON-TRENT
NEWBRIDGE
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Newhall
NEWPORT / CASNEWYDD
NEWPORT: GWENT
NEWQUAY
NEWTON ABBOT
NEWTON AYCLIFFE
NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS
NEWTOWN / Y DRENEWYDD
NORMANTON
NORTHAMPTON
NORWICH
NOTTINGHAM
NUNEATON
Offerton Green
OLDHAM
Ottershaw
OXFORD
PERTH
PETERBOROUGH
PLYMOUTH
PONTEFRACT
PORTHCAWL
PORTSMOUTH
POULTON-LE-FYLDE
PRESTON
QUEENSFERRY
RAMSBOTTOM
RAWTENSTALL
READING
REDCAR
REDDITCH
REDHILL
REIGATE
RHONDDA
ROCHESTER
ROTHWELL
Rottingdean
ROYSTON
RUGELEY
RUSHDEN
Sawston
Sc*ntHORPE
Seaton Carew
SHEFFIELD
SHEFFORD
Shelly Green
SHILDON
SHREWSBURY
SITTINGBOURNE
SKELTON
SLOUGH
South Heighton
South Kirkby
South Normanton
South Ockendon
South Woodham Ferrers
SOUTHAMPTON
SOUTHEND-ON-SEA
SOUTHPORT
SPENNYMOOR
ST ALBANS
St Blazey
St Columb Road
STAFFORD
Stainforth
Stapenhill
STEVENAGE
STOCKSBRIDGE
STOCKTON-ON-TEES
STOKE-ON-TRENT
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
SUNDERLAND
Sunninghill
SUTTON COLDFIELD
SUTTON IN ASHFIELD
SWADLINCOTE
SWANSEA / ABERTAWE
SWINDON
SWINTON
TAMWORTH
TAUNTON
TELFORD
THATCHAM
The Mumbles
Thornaby-on-Tees
TONBRIDGE
TOTTON
WAKEFIELD
WALLINGFORD
Walton
WANSTEAD
WARRINGTON
WASHINGTON
Weeping Cross
WELLS
WESTHOUGHTON
WEYBRIDGE
WHITBURN
WICKFORD
WIGAN
WINDSOR
Winterbourne
WOLVERHAMPTON
WORCESTER
WORKSOP
Writtle
YEOVIL
YORK
