EE brings 5G to the London Underground

EE customers are now able to enjoy 5G connectivity on the London Underground, with the network’s high-speed coverage live at three stations – Archway and Tufnell Park on the Northern line, as well as Notting Hill Gate on the Central line.

In addition to continuous 5G coverage from ticket hall to platform at all three stations, 5G is also live within the tunnel segment at Notting Hill Gate and the same will be true for Archway and Tufnell Park shortly. This will enable passengers to communicate with friends and colleagues or stream content uninterrupted.

In December 2022 these three stations were amongst the first beyond the eastern half of the Jubilee Line to benefit from EE’s 4G coverage, and the arrival of London’s best 5G Network is the next significant step in the operator’s plans to roll-out mobile coverage across the entirety of the London Underground network, as well as the Elizabeth line, by the end of 2024.

5G will be extended to the tunnels surrounding each of the stations in the near future as part of EE and BAI’s ongoing rollout, which will also see both 4G and 5G arrive at a host of new stations throughout 2023 and beyond.

5G not only delivers faster speeds for customers but also greater capacity when layered on top of the concurrent deployment of 4G, which will prove invaluable – particularly during busy periods such as the morning and evening rush hour.

BAI’s innovative multi-carrier network connects London Underground’s stations and tunnels both with each other and with the outside world. EE’s mobile network then connects to the BAI infrastructure via basestations from Nokia’s AirScale radio access portfolio, ensuring immediate and continuous mobile coverage to customers. Nokia is supplying and installing the equipment, activating and validating the infrastructure for EE’s mobile services.

With compact and easy to deploy form factors, AirScale radios and baseband units are designed to meet various deployment needs. The basestation equipment powered by Nokia’s unique ReefShark System-on-Chip (SoC) enables high performance 5G services.