British mobile phone operator EE on Thursday became the first in the country to launch a high-speed 5G service, but without smartphones from controversial Chinese technology giant Huawei. EE, which is a division of British telecoms giant BT, has launched 5G in six major cities comprising Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Manchester - and more hubs will follow.
"From today, the UK will be able to discover 5G for the first time thanks to EE," it announced in a statement, after an official launch featuring a performance from chart-topping grime act Stormzy on a boat on London's River Thames. Next-generation 5G mobile networks offer almost instantaneous data transfer that will become the nervous system of Europe's economy in strategic sectors like energy, transport, banking and health care. EE had announced last week that it would make its 5G network available to the public - but would not sell Huawei's first 5G phone, the Mate 20 X 5G.
However, the Chinese company still provides 5G network infrastructure equipment to EE. "We are very pleased to be one of the partners supporting EE with a new era of faster and more reliable mobile connectivity over 5G in the UK," a Huawei spokesperson told AFP on Thursday. Rival British mobile phone giant Vodafone will launch its own 5G services on July 3 in seven UK cities - but it has also paused the sale of the Huawei Mate 20 X 5G smartphone.