EE continues to expand its 5G+ network and deploy Advanced RAN Coordination to optimise radio performance and capacity across the UK.
Delivering next-generation connectivity at scale requires significant capital investment and precise radio engineering. EE’s parent company, BT Group, is directing billions into UK infrastructure as part of a broader investment programme aimed at improving nationwide connectivity and supporting rising data demand.
EE surpassed 50 million people covered by its 5G+ service in early 2026, exceeding its spring target of 41 million. The active infrastructure now serves 610 towns and cities. Achieving this scale depends on meticulous engineering work: upgrading physical backhaul, validating core network performance, and coordinating spectrum deployment across diverse regional environments.
The 5G+ tier represents EE’s highest capacity offering and focuses on low latency and high throughput needed for heavy-use applications like video conferencing and online gaming, particularly during periods of peak congestion.
Recent additions to the 5G+ rollout include Aberystwyth, Antrim, Bangor, Barnsley, Cheltenham, Chichester, Cirencester, Dorchester, Erskine, Melton Mowbray, Merthyr Tydfil, Newbury, Preston, Salford, and St Austell. EE’s stated objective is to provide this level of service to 99 percent of the population by March 2030. Usage metrics underpin the commercial case: monthly data consumption on 5G+ increased by 54 percent over the past six months, reflecting strong customer adoption.
“This milestone shows the pace at which we’re building the UK’s most advanced mobile network,” said Greg McCall, Chief Security and Networks Officer at BT Group. “By expanding EE’s 5G+ coverage to millions more people and being among the first to launch new network technologies, we’re giving customers more reliable and resilient connectivity where it matters most.”
Spectrum refarming and carrier aggregation
To boost capacity and improve indoor performance, EE has reallocated its 2.1GHz (2100MHz) spectrum across more than 4,000 sites. Refarming this band enhances upload speeds and indoor coverage in dense urban and built-up areas where signal loss can be a persistent issue.
Refarming 2.1GHz involves repurposing legacy 3G channels, which must be managed carefully to avoid service degradation. The process requires intelligent interference management at base stations to prevent new 5G signals from affecting neighbouring frequency blocks. EE plans to extend this reallocation to an additional 5,000 mobile sites in the coming months.
Progress in radio access also depends on handset compatibility. EE became the first UK operator to deploy five-carrier aggregation on its 5G+ network. This capability allows supported devices to simultaneously combine five separate spectrum bands, delivering approximately a 10 percent average increase in downlink throughput and more stable video streaming.
Rolling out carrier aggregation at this scale places heavy demands on baseband processing and requires close collaboration with equipment vendors to ensure interoperability across different chipset architectures.
Advanced RAN Coordination maximises asset utility
EE is implementing Advanced RAN Coordination (ARC), a software-driven approach that enables adjacent cell sites to share radio capacity dynamically. By reallocating resources in real time, ARC can increase network performance by around 20 percent without installing additional physical masts. EE says it is the first operator globally to deploy this specific coordination architecture at scale.
ARC reduces interference and balances load by allowing neighbouring sites to absorb excess traffic as required. This shared-resource model smooths sudden spikes in demand in busy locations such as high streets, city centres, and train stations, improving user experience during peak periods.
EE validated the concept with trials in Manchester and Edinburgh before activating ARC across London. By the end of May 2026, the roll-out extended to Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Sheffield.
Deploying shared radio resources brings demanding engineering requirements. Software-defined controllers must process high volumes of telemetry in milliseconds to decide which adjacent base station should carry extra load. As users move between coverage areas—for example, from a macro cell into a crowded transport hub—the coordination system continually adjusts connection parameters to maintain service quality.
These capabilities depend on a low-latency fibre backhaul network: any delay between coordinating nodes can erase the performance gains. Telecom operators are shifting investment away from acquiring new physical sites toward edge compute and software-driven solutions that maximise existing assets. Successful deployment also requires careful consideration of backhaul capacity so that centralised controllers do not overload optical links between coordinated sites.
Sustaining the rollout pace necessary to meet the 2030 coverage targets demands ongoing capital allocation and precise project execution. Combining spectrum refarming, advanced carrier aggregation and intelligent capacity sharing helps operators build efficient, high-performance networks capable of supporting future services.
As the telecoms industry seeks revenue beyond basic subscriptions, establishing a programmable and adaptable radio environment lays the groundwork for advanced enterprise services and specialised wholesale products.
See also: SoftBank and Ericsson boost 5G performance with uplink switching
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