5G Challenges In London

London 5G Challenges

A recent Ookla study (covering Q1 2025, published April 17, 2025) shows that London  has made huge strides to improve the 5G footprint over the last few years.

Interestingly, Ookla measured, 

"the proportion of Londoners spending the majority of their time in locations with no service"   

and in Q1 2023, this figure was 3.7% of Londoners, compared with 0.7% of Londoners in Q1 2025.

This would indicate that 5G coverage and availability is rising relatively fast in the ranks, however when we look a little closer, the Ookla report data tells a deeper story and points to considerable 5G challenges ahead. 

London A Step Behind Other UK Cities

Clearly, 5G connectivity is available in London. However, when it comes to real‑world performance, London lags. When we look across regions, the median 5G download speeds in the capital city stand at about 115 Mbps, which is the same as Belfast but significantly behind Glasgow’s 185 Mbps. Upload speeds and 5G network reliability / consistency also rank among the lowest in major UK cities. Glasgow delivered a consistency score of around 85% where London only managed 74.7%. This means that London based businesses experience more latency, speed, constraint issues during peak hours, highlighting bandwidth and congestion at the network edge.

It was also noted by Ookla that median 5G download speeds fell more than 7% on average across major UK cities between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025. This decrease could be due to rising network demand as users transition off 3G/2G and onto 5G, shifting network loads and intensifying pressure on available capacity. 

What This Means For Business Users In London?

5G access at some level, is relatively widespread, but seamless and robust connectivity requires immediate attention. It could be argued that the current speed consistency and median performances are not enough for London businesses to operate smoothly. Businesses that operate in the fintech and media industries are more likely to need robust connectivity, and are more likely to explore areas like 5G Lan which requires robust high capacity connectivity. As more and more businesses rely on remote working and field based mobile workforces, it puts pressure on the need for strong 5G performance in our capital cities. 

This all creates a need for coverage improvements and more mast installations in both cities like London and more remote areas out of London. Underground stations, offices, and crowded metropolitan spaces like shopping malls and outdoor arenas will also require some more specialised installations. 

Network Capacity Upgrade Issues

As the report highlights, high density areas and rising data usage, remain major areas of concern and constraint. Operators have tried to alleviate issues by rolling out “small cell” deployments on lamp-posts and street furniture to boost capacity in crowded zones. These are helping, but expansion is slow and costly due to planning complexities and building restrictions in historically sensitive cities like London.

London has lots of heritage architecture and archaic planning requirements to protect its rich historical landscape. Protecting history across 32 boroughs is a huge task, and requires departments to manage planning proposals and permissions. For companies that want to install 5G masts, this entire process takes far too much time.

However, heritage buildings are not the only issue. The latest generation high-rise buildings use the most energy efficient materials, which are fantastic for their "green" credentials, but are typically signal-resistant, and add to creating signal blackspots in and around them.  

Looking Beyond The Challenges Of 5G

Ultimately, the report highlights issues and trends that are worth noting. For example, Leeds was leading the UK with a 21% lead above national average for 5G availability in Q1 2024, but this is no longer the case. London has taken the lead in this respect, and the lead above national average has also dropped to 13% suggesting some progress regionally.

The proportion of Londoners out of signal areas decreasing to 0.7% is also a great move in the right direction. Stronger 5G availability reflects progress operators have made through densification and underground coverage efforts.

Regional improvements are noteworthy, and many smaller towns are making faster coverage progress than larger cities. London's progress is a step in the right direction, but London is not yet operating at the speed expected of a global business capital. 

Looking ahead, these 5G Challenges will need to be met by investment in small cell installations, major reforms of planning permissions, and a more nationally coordinated capacity planning process. With these steps, London could take a leadership position nationally and maybe one day even internationally.