Innovative 5G mobile technology goes live in Canary Wharf Pic: David Iliff

Workers in an area of Canary Wharf are the first people in the UK to have access to new superfast mobile Internet – with speeds 20 times faster than the 4G in current use.

Mobile phone network EE, part of BT group, has just launched the UK’s first ever trial of fifth generation wireless cellular technology (5G) in Montgomery Square.

5G Technology Lead at BT group Fotis Karonis, told EastLondonLines: “This is the latest milestone in our 5G rollout – a live test of our 5G network, in a hugely busy ‘hotspot’, where we know there’s going to be demand from customers for increased mobile capacity.”

Whilst 4G has a peak speed of 1GB per second, 5G is able to achieve speeds of 20GB per second, twenty times faster than the former.

5G wireless technology offers faster speeds, as well as improved coverage and performance Pic: EE

The trial makes use of innovative equipment that was won in an Ofcom auction earlier this year in the hope of seeing how the 5G technologies will behave in a real-life setting.

The chosen mobile network to launch the trial was EE, as it is the most used in the UK.

The trial is only available in Montgomery Square, because it is visited by around 150,000 people per day. It homes many leading institutions including FTSE and Total.

The idea is to test the new technology in high capacity zones because these are the places that have the greatest number of people using the most mobile data, with the first phase of the 5G rollout targeting ‘hotspots’ across the UK.

EE will make 10 more 5G sites live for consumer and business technology trials in east London later this month.

Mark Nallen, Head of Technology and Innovation, Canary Wharf Group has spoken about the connectivity being critical to their community and said: “The consumers who live and work here will benefit from being better connected, and the enterprises based here will have the chance to partner with BT Group to understand the full capabilities of 5G.”