Blueprint
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 6-K
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of
Announcement: 13 November
2018
BT Group plc
(Translation
of registrant's name into English)
BT
Group plc
81 Newgate Street
London
EC1A 7AJ
England
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F..X...
Form 40-F
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information
to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934.
Yes
No ..X..
If
"Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the
registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82-
________
13 November 2018
EE ANNOUNCES 5G LAUNCH LOCATIONS FOR 2019
● EE launching 5G within 16 UK cities in 2019 -
switching on 5G in the busiest locations across London, Cardiff,
Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester as phase one of
launch
● 5G launch to cover the busiest parts of cities,
including London's Hyde Park, Manchester Airport, Edinburgh
Waverley train station, Belfast City Airport, The Welsh Assembly
and Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre
● 5G Smartphones to be introduced alongside 5G Home
router for 5G broadband
● EE also building next generation 5G core network,
with virtualised network functions on a cloud native
infrastructure
13 November 2018 - EE, the
UK's number one mobile network and part of BT Group, today
announced that it is switching on 5G sites in 16 UK cities in 2019.
The first launch cities will be the UK's four capital cities -
London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast - and Birmingham and
Manchester.
EE is building 5G in the busiest parts of the six launch cites -
including Hyde Park in London, Manchester Arena, Belfast City
Airport, the Welsh Assembly, Edinburgh Waverly train station and
Birmingham's Bullring - where the power of 5G technology can really
make a difference by providing a more reliable data connection to
business and consumer customers, even in the biggest
crowds.
As well as the six launch cities, through 2019 EE will also be
introducing 5G across the busiest parts of ten more UK cities:
Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham,
Leicester, Coventry and Bristol.
EE will launch with multiple smartphone partners, as well as an EE
5G Home router with external antenna, to showcase the power of 5G
for broadband.
The BT Technology team is virtualising elements of the core network
for 5G rollout in 2019, and is building a next generation 5G
core in line with the next stage of global 5G standards,
with virtualised network functions on a cloud native
infrastructure, creating the basis for a smart and fully converged
agile network. The BT 21CN backbone network is Petabit-class, and
will ensure the future-proofed scale required to enable a
world-leading 5G experience.
Marc Allera, CEO of BT's Consumer division,
said: "Adding 5G to the
UK's number one 4G network will increase reliability, increase
speeds, and keep our customers connected where they need it most.
This is another milestone for the UK and for our network journey -
we'll keep evolving as we move to one, smart network for our
customers. We have an ambition to connect our customers to 4G, 5G
or WiFi 100% of the time."
5G Rollout Strategy
The 5G rollout strategy is determined by the number of
business and consumer customers the EE network connects in busy
places, and the amount of data those customers use. For example, in
the last three months alone, more than 2.1 million individual
customers connected around Waterloo station, with just one site at
the station carrying more than 100 terabytes of data per
day.
The first 1,500 sites that EE is upgrading to 5G in 2019 carry 25%
of all data across the whole network, but only cover 15% of the UK
population. EE is upgrading to 5G where it can make the biggest
difference to the most people. 5G is built on top of EE's award
winning 4G network - customers' 5G experience will be dictated by
the quality of both 4G and 5G, as well as the underlying fixed
network.
EE is upgrading transmission to 10Gbps links at each 5G site, and
has tested the new links - the fastest in use anywhere in the UK -
at its trial sites in Canary Wharf and across East
London.
Ongoing 4G Investment
EE is still upgrading 4G sites as part of its overall network
strategy, while turning 3G signal into 4G to enable more spectrum
for a better network experience. The busiest sites will have five
carriers of 4G spectrum supporting the new 5G spectrum, making them
the highest speed sites of any UK operator in 2019.
As well as increasing capacity, EE is expanding 4G coverage into
rural parts of the UK to give rural communities the coverage and
capacity that they need. EE has built more than 350 brand new sites
in 2018 alone.
Best Network - Five Years in a Row
In August, EE was named as the UK's best network for the 5th year
in a row. RootMetrics travelled 20,928 miles, and undertook 593,008
tests (including calls, data and text messages), of all four of the
UK networks across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,
in the first six months of 2018. The company has been testing all
UK mobile operators every six months since 2012.
EE is currently trialling live 5G in Canary Wharf, and parts of
East London. New devices and functionality are being tested in the
state-of-the-art Borehamwood test lab.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For more information, please contact:
ee@nelsonbostock.com
0845 373 7070
About EE
EE is the largest and most advanced mobile operator in the UK,
delivering mobile and fixed communications services to its
customers. EE is part of BT's Consumer business unit which provides
products and services to all of BT's consumer customers in the UK.
EE runs the UK's biggest and fastest mobile network, offering
superfast 4G in more places than any other operator after
pioneering the UK's first superfast 4G mobile service in October
2012. Today, EE's retail presence exceeds more than 600 shops
across the UK.
EE has received extensive independent recognition, including being
ranked the UK's best overall network by RootMetrics®; Best
Network for five years in a row at the Mobile Choice Awards; Best
Network at the 2015, 2016 and 2018 Mobile News Awards; Best
Consumer Network at the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 Mobile Industry
Awards; as well as Fastest Network and Best Network Coverage at the
2017 uSwitch Mobile Awards.
Follow us on…
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ee
Twitter at: www.twitter.com/ee
Signatures
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
BT Group plc
(Registrant)
By: /s/
Dan Fitz, Company Secretary
--------------------
Dan
Fitz, Company Secretary.
Date
13 November
2018