EE plans to start offering 5G services in six cities across the United Kingdom on May 30, meaning that the BT-owned mobile operator will launch its next-generation mobile technology based on the 5G new radio non-standalone specification just over a month earlier than rival Vodafone UK, making it the first commercial 5G network on the market.

Vodafone UK has already announced that it will launch 5G services in seven cities across the U.K. on July 3 at current pricing levels. EE’s 5G journey will begin in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham, and Manchester, with new 5G plans and six new 5G devices including smartphones from Samsung (Galaxy S10 5G), Oppo (Reno 5G), LG (V50 ThinQ) and One Plus (7 Pro 5G). EE also said it will offer 5GEE WiFi and 5GEE home broadband services from June, with pricing and availability to follow.

EE said speeds are expected to increase by around 100-150 Mb/s. “Some customers will break the one gigabit-per-second milestone on their 5G smartphones,” the operator added.

EE’s 5G smartphone plans will start from 10 GB at a cost of about $68 per month and extend up to 120 GB for almost $94 per month. Customer incentives to upgrade to the new high-speed services will include two or three out of a choice of five “swappable benefits” including a new HD HDR version of the BT Sport App and a new Gamer’s Data Pass. A 5G SIM-only plan will also be offered, with inclusive data allowances of between 20 GB and 100 GB per month. Plans for business customers will include features such as shared mobile data plans with up to 950 GB of mobile data as well as security options.

The operator added that 5G will be introduced in the busiest parts of Bristol, Coventry, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, and Sheffield during 2019. In 2020, 5G sites will be deployed in Aberdeen, Cambridge, Derby, Gloucester, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Southampton, Worcester, and Wolverhampton.

EE also unveiled new partnerships that it hopes will lead to the creation of new 5G services for customers. For example, it has partnered with Niantic to be the exclusive telecoms launch partner in the U.K. for the augmented reality game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Furthermore, it is collaborating with Google on the Google for Startups Campus in London, providing a facility for the development of 5G apps and services.

According to Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s Consumer division, “our partnerships with Google and Niantic are just the start of our commitment to work with the most innovative and exciting companies in the world to ensure that EE customers are the first to benefit from the exciting new experiences that 5G will bring.”

The mobile operator clarified that the launch in May represents only the first phase of its 5G rollout: phase two beginning in 2022 will see the launch of the 5G core network, enhanced device chipset capabilities, and increased availability of 5G-ready spectrum.

Ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), network slicing and multi-gigabit-per-second speeds are said to be on the agenda for phase 3 in 2023. “This phase of 5G will enable critical applications like real-time traffic management of fleets of autonomous vehicles, massive sensor networks with millions of devices measuring air quality across the entire country, and the ‘tactile internet’, where a sense of touch can be added to remote real-time interactions,” EE said.

In terms of other U.K. rivals, Three UK already announced that its second 5G site is live in central London and plans to start making services available to customers in the second half of the year. Telefonica-owned O2 UK also plans to launch 5G sometime this year.