EE continues to integrate Advanced RAN Coordination into its expanded 5G+ network to optimise radio performance.
The race to monetise next-generation connectivity demands intensive capital expenditure and precise radio frequency planning. EE-owner BT Group is advancing its network performance as part of a £40 billion investment program directing funds towards UK infrastructure improvements.
EE pushed its 5G+ coverage past 50 million people early in 2026, comfortably beating its Spring target of 41 million. The active infrastructure now covers 610 towns and cities. Hitting these capacity metrics relies on strict engineering execution: executing physical backhaul improvements, conducting core network testing, and coordinating spectrum across wildly varying regional topographies.
Delivering reliable connectivity at scale involves maximising spectrum utility in high-traffic environments. Operating as the operator’s highest capacity tier, the 5G+ network targets latency and data speeds to handle heavy applications like video calls and gaming during peak congestion.
The most recent activation areas include Aberystwyth, Antrim, Bangor, Barnsley, Cheltenham, Chichester, Cirencester, Dorchester, Erskine, Melton Mowbray, Merthyr Tydfil, Newbury, Preston, Salford, and St Austell. The goal is to reach 99 percent population coverage with this standard by March 2030. The commercial justification sits directly in the usage telemetry: monthly customer data consumption on 5G+ grew 54 percent over the past six months.
“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 the first in the world to launch new network technologies, we’re giving our customers more reliable and resilient connectivity in the places where it matters most.”
Spectrum refarming and carrier aggregation
To improve capacity and indoor propagation characteristics, EE recently completed the reallocation of its 2.1GHz (2100MHz) spectrum bands across over 4,000 cellular sites. This frequency refarming directly improves upload speeds for end-users operating within dense, built-up environments where signal attenuation poses a persistent engineering challenge.
Refarming 2.1GHz requires taking legacy 3G channels offline or compressing them, an operation that risks dropping voice traffic if poorly executed. Operators must deploy intelligent interference cancellation algorithms at the base station level to ensure the newly acquired 5G bandwidth does not bleed into adjacent frequency blocks. Engineering teams are preparing to replicate this 2.1GHz spectrum reallocation across an additional 5,000 mobile sites over the coming months.
Radio access network advancement also requires sophisticated handset ecosystem coordination. EE became the first UK operator to implement five-carrier aggregation across its 5G+ infrastructure. Completed last month, this deployment allows compatible mobile devices to bond five distinct spectrum frequencies simultaneously. This complex multiplexing technique yields a 10 percent average increase in downlink speeds and enhances video streaming stability.
Implementing carrier aggregation on this scale places intensive demands on baseband units and requires deep technical cooperation with major equipment vendors to guarantee interoperability across various silicon architectures.
Advanced RAN Coordination maximises asset utility
EE is deploying a technology called Advanced RAN Coordination, designed to allow adjacent cell sites to share radio capacity dynamically. This real-time resource allocation technique instantly boosts network performance by 20 percent without requiring the installation of new physical masts. EE stands as the sole UK operator, and the first globally, to roll out this specific coordination architecture.
Advanced RAN Coordination (ARC) manages radio interference and balances loads by letting adjacent mobile sites dynamically share capacity in real time. This software-driven routing yields a 20 percent performance boost and bypasses the need for new physical masts. The shared resource model handles sudden traffic spikes across high streets, city centres, and train stations.
EE proved the architecture in Manchester and Edinburgh last year before switching ARC live across its London footprint. By the end of May 2026, the technology rolls out to Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Sheffield.
The integration of shared radio resources introduces high-stakes engineering requirements. Software-defined network controllers must process massive volumes of telemetry data in milliseconds to determine which adjacent base station can absorb excess traffic. When a user transitions from a macro cell into a highly congested transport hub, the central unit coordinating the radio clusters must negotiate connection parameters continuously.
This all demands an underlying fibre backhaul architecture capable of near-zero latency, as any transmission delay between the coordinating nodes would negate the capacity gains. Telecom leaders understand that deploying software-driven load balancing reduces capital expenditure linked to acquiring new physical site leases, instead diverting investment toward compute resources housed at the edge. The system must account for backhaul limitations, ensuring the central processing unit does not overload the optical fibre connections linking the coordinated towers.
Maintaining the deployment velocity required to reach the 2030 population target demands constant capital allocation and precise execution. Balancing spectrum refarming, complex carrier aggregation techniques, and intelligent capacity sharing allows operators to construct highly efficient connectivity platforms.
As the telecoms sector searches for sustainable revenue models beyond basic subscription fees, establishing a programmable and adaptable radio environment provides the necessary foundation for advanced enterprise services and specialised wholesale products.
See also: SoftBank and Ericsson boost 5G performance with uplink switching
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