Telefónica-owned O2 UK became the last of the four mobile network operators in the United Kingdom to reveal its commercial 5G launch date after announcing that it will start selling the next-generation mobile service in October 2019.

The operator said it will switch on its 5G network in 20 towns and cities in 2019, and it will bring that number to a total of 50 by summer 2020. The first cities to receive the service will be Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, and Slough.

Although O2 UK previously tested 5G radio access network (RAN) equipment from Huawei, it seems the operator has decided to use equipment from existing partners Ericsson and Nokia.

Rivals EE, Three UK, and Vodafone UK are all using Huawei in one form or another, although mostly in the RAN network, but O2 UK looks to be holding fire until the U.K. government has made its decision on whether or not to allow the China-based vendor to participate in building 5G networks. That decision has been delayed until the government has a clearer picture on the impact of U.S. measures taken against the vendor.

BT-owned EE and Vodafone UK have already launched their 5G networks, while Three UK is due to take its network live this week. The CK Hutchison-backed operator said in June 2019 that will start selling the next-generation mobile service in August.

The market’s fourth-largest operator will nevertheless start with a more limited offering than rivals EE and Vodafone UK, and it will initially only offer a fixed wireless access (FWA) service for home broadband access in London.

Three UK has also announced all customers will have access to 5G services “with no speed caps and at no extra cost.” The operator is thus maintaining its traditional “unlimited data” message that set it apart from rivals in the 4G era. It recently confirmed that it aims to roll out 5G across 25 cities this year, and it claims that 80% of its network traffic today will be covered by 5G within three years.

Three and Nokia have also launched what they described as “the world’s first 5G-ready fully integrated cloud core network” in preparation for 5G. The operator said the new core network will be managed from its 20 new data centers “which have been distributed across the UK to bring its 5G network closer to its customers in order to deliver the lowest possible latency.”

Vodafone has been particularly active on driving network-sharing deals in Europe to speed up the roll out of 5G networks, and recently concluded a new deal with O2 UK.

The two operators agreed to share 5G active equipment, such as radio antennas, on joint network sites across the UK. They also said 25% of total mast sites will be set up with private elements to enable greater 5G network autonomy in 24 cities. Joint venture company Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure (CTIL) will manage the shared facilities

Following the completion of active and passive network sharing agreements in Italy, Spain and the UK, Vodafone has now decided to separate its passive tower assets and create a new European tower company, dubbed TowerCo, by May 2020. The new company will own and manage around 61,700 towers across 10 countries with 75% of these sites in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK.

Vodafone formed an active network sharing partnership for 4G and 5G with Telecom Italia and agreed to expand their existing passive sharing agreement. Furthermore, Vodafone and Telecom Italia’s tower company Inwit plan to combine their respective tower portfolios including a total of 22,100 passive towers in Italy.

In Spain, Vodafone has signed a new mobile and fixed network sharing agreement with Orange, to “enable the faster deployment of 5G over a wider geographic area.” The two operators plan to share 14,800 sites, up from 5,600 currently.