Vodafone switches on its 5G network across seven UK cities with 5G roaming available in Germany, Italy and Spain over the summer.
A return to unlimited data: Vodafone has launched its 5G network and will become the first operator to offer unlimited data on both 4G and 5G with Vodafone Unlimited coming on 10 July 2019. UK CEO Nick Jeffery said it didn’t make sense to limit people and so would unveil a fundamental change to how they price data. Three unlimited plans will be available to both consumers and business customers. Vodafone Unlimited Lite will cost £23 per month and offers speeds of up to 2 Mbps, Vodafone Unlimited will cost £26 per month and offering speeds of up to 10 Mbps, with Vodafone Unlimited Max giving users unlimited mobile access at speeds as fast as the device and the network will allow for £30 per month.
Vodafone rivals EE’s 5G launch which includes a price premium: EE launched the UK’s first 5G network on 30 May 2019 across six cities including London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester. Unlike Vodafone, EE have repeated their 4G launch strategy of placing a small premium on 5G contracts, and crucially not going all out unlimited.
Who is next? Three and O2 are next up, with Three planning to launch primarily with a home-broadband substitute in London during August 2019. Like Vodafone, Three have said there will not be a price premium placed on 5G contracts. O2 have not yet committed to a date, but a number of sites around the country have been spotted as having already been upgraded suggesting a launch is imminent.
