Pledge
“Labour will make a renewed push to fulfil the ambition of … national 5G coverage by 2030”
Our verdict
Ofcom is yet to publish data on national coverage of next-generation standalone 5G. The government says it is committed to “all populated areas” having access by 2030.
Labour’s manifesto pledged a “renewed push” for “national 5G coverage by 2030”.
5G is the latest generation of wireless communications technology, which allows for greater speeds than previous 3G and 4G technology and greater capacity, so that more devices in a given area can be connected to fast speed internet at the same time.
There are two different ways of rolling out 5G—standalone and non-standalone. Standalone 5G networks (5G SA) are built specifically for 5G. Non-standalone networks use 5G masts and frequencies, but are built on top of the existing 4G network.
Standalone 5G technology was first made available in the UK by Vodafone in 2023, followed by O2 and EE in 2024.
The previous Conservative government set out a target in 2023 for nationwide coverage of standalone 5G by 2030, where nationwide meant “all populated areas”, including “rural villages and communities”.
The Labour government confirmed in November 2024 that it is keeping the previous government’s target and is “aiming to have higher-quality stand-alone 5G in all populated areas by 2030”.
While Labour’s manifesto commitment is worded as a “renewed push” for 5G, ministers have been clear to pledge standalone 5G access by 2030, so that’s the benchmark we are using to assess progress.
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We are currently rating this pledge as “wait and see”, as we do not yet have data on how widespread national coverage of standalone 5G is.
Ofcom, the communications regulator, does not currently regularly publish data on nationwide coverage of standalone 5G, but in a July 2025 report it said it planned to do so towards the end of 2025.
It is difficult therefore to assess progress towards the national rollout of standalone 5G until this data is published.
As standalone 5G enables lower response times, improved security and faster connection speeds on mobile devices than traditional 5G, the government estimates its widespread adoption could have industrial uses “in manufacturing, broadcasting, public services, transport and logistics”. Experts have suggested this could include use in self-driving cars or remote surgeries, since it takes less time for data to travel across the network.
In July 2025 Ofcom said standalone 5G use on mobile phones is “currently low”, but noted that network providers were reporting increasing coverage, including EE, which said in July 2025 its standalone 5G would be available to around 50% of the population by the end of August 2025—but it’s worth noting that only customers of networks offering standalone 5G are able to access it.
The government has said that as 5G “deployment is commercially driven” it’s “critical” the UK has a “pro-investment policy and regulatory regime” to encourage the private sector to roll out this technology nationwide.
When we asked the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology what regulatory and pro-investment changes it has made to promote the 5G rollout, a spokesperson pointed to changes in the planning system and a Mobile Market Review, which will look at whether operators have the investment capacity to roll out standalone 5G more widely and how the government can assist with that.
As we develop this Government Tracker we’re keen to hear your feedback. We’ll be keeping the Tracker up to date and adding more pledges in the coming months.
Progress displayed publicly—so every single person in this country can judge our performance on actions, not words.
Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister – 24 September 2024