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LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC said Wednesday it will roll out 5G testing across seven UK cities later this year.
Vodafone said it is developing its 5G network as part of its "Gigabit UK" programme. This also involves Vodafone Gigafast Broadband, a new fibre optic broadband capable of speeds of up to 1,000 megabits of data per second.
The seven Gigabit UK testing cities will be Aberdeen, Coventry, Edinburgh, Huddersfield, Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Stirling. 5G will be introduced in these cities between October and December with Vodafone Gigafast Broadband "starting towards the end of 2018".
5G and Vodafone Gigafast Broadband will connect through RedStream, the company's core fibre optic network linking 1,300 broadband exchanges and close to 1,600 other locations.
5G provides faster and more reliable connections for smartphones and other wireless internet devices. Peak download speeds on 4G networks are only 300 megabits per second, less than a third the speed of 5G, which offers 1 gigabit per second.
"We want to make 5G and new fibre broadband services available to consumers and business throughout the UK...We will also be bringing ultra-fast 4G to several hundred sites in hard to reach rural areas this year," said Vodafone UK Chief Executive Nick Jeffery.
Shares in Vodafone Group were trading up 1.2% at 188.10 pence on Wednesday.
