EE’s 5G network will launch in the UK next week on May 30th, a month before Vodafone launches its rival service on July 3rd. EE’s service will be available in six cities at launch — London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, and Manchester — and the operator says it plans to add ten more cities in 2020.

Although EE’s network is launching first, Vodafone’s network is due to be available in more cities initially. Vodafone’s network will be available in seven cities at launch — Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Birmingham, and London. Along with EE’s launch, this means that residents of Cardiff, Birmingham, and London will soon have two 5G networks to choose from.

Say hello to #5GEE.



Next week you’ll be able to experience a new era of faster and more reliable mobile connectivity on our 5G network – launching 30th May.



Find out more: https://t.co/5tWmrHDL97 pic.twitter.com/lny8JTssl0 — EE (@EE) May 22, 2019

Coverage of 5G service will vary between Vodafone and EE initially. While Vodafone has a full postcode checker where you can see promised outdoor and indoor 5G coverage, EE has only supplied giant maps that make it very difficult to judge whether you’ll even get 5G coverage in parts of each city.

EE is opening pre-orders for four 5G handsets today. There’s the Samsung S10 5G, which is also due to be available on Vodafone’s network, as well as the Oppo Reno 5G, the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, and the LG V50 ThinQ. Notably absent from this list are Huawei’s Mate X and Mate 20 X (5G), two phones which Vodafone announced would also be coming to its network. EE has previously said that it would carry the Huawei Mate 20 X 5G, but this appears to have changed in the light of Google’s announcement that it would be terminating the Chinese manufacturer’s Android license.

O2 and Three are yet to announce launch dates for their networks

Prices for the 5G plans start at £54 a month for 10GB of data, rising to £74 a month for 120GB. Alternatively, SIM-only plans will be available starting at £32 a month for 20GB of data, up to £52 for 100GB.

Along with its mobile plans, EE is also launching 5G home broadband using the HTC 5G Hub or 5GEE Home Router. After an upfront cost of £100 you can get either 50GB and 100GB of data a month for either £50 or £75 respectively.

Today’s announcement means that two out of the UK’s four major mobile networks have now announced launch dates for their 5G networks. O2 and Three have yet to provide official dates for the launch of their next generation networks beyond saying that they will be available before the end of the year.

The launch of the UK’s first 5G network next week comes almost two months after Verizon launched the first 5G networks in the US in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis.