UK MNO EE has switched on 5G in 12 more UK towns and claims to be the country’s number one network for that sort of thing.

Aberdeen, Blackpool, Oxford and Warwick are now the proud owners of at least one 5G EE base station, along with a bunch of other places we’ve never heard of. While the inhabitants of Barrhead and Mirfield are no less deserving of 5G than the rest of us, we question whether its arrival at either of them constitutes news to anyone who doesn’t live there.

“5G rollout continues apace, with our engineers building and upgrading new sites every day to bring the latest mobile technology to even more people in the places they need it,” said Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s Consumer business. “We have 5G coverage in more places than anyone in the UK, and we remain focused on connecting many more areas this year and beyond.”

EE nearly always refers to its favourite networks analytics company, Rootmetrics, when beating its corporate chest. While we have no reason to doubt the claims made, a quick look at Rootmetrics’ coverage map reveals even the UK market leader still has a long way to go when it comes to 5G coverage.

The likely reason for EE picking today to give us an incremental 5G rollout update is that Apple is expected to launch its 5G phone later on. The new iPhone is expected to provide a boost to the consumer 5G market on the whole and EE is clearly trying to jostle its way to the front of the queue. No expense is being spared in pursuit of that aim and we look forward to hearing Paolo’s thoughts on the musical eye mask next time he’s on the podcast.