O2 - United Kingdom

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O2
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United Kingdom Flag of United Kingdom View country details


O2 (United Kingdom) uses 1 GSM band, 2 UMTS bands, 5 LTE bands, and 4 5G NR bands. Find out if your unlocked phone or mobile device will work with O2 (United Kingdom). See the tables below for details.

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Carrier website: http://www.o2.co.uk/

Last updated: 2024/08/04 - See latest updates

O2 UK is a major mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, owned by Virgin Media O2, a joint venture between Telefónica and Liberty Global. Here are some key points about O2 UK:

History

  • Formation: O2 UK was formed in January 1985 as Cellnet, a joint venture between BT and Securicor.
  • Rebranding: It was rebranded as BT Cellnet in 1999 and later as O2 in 2002.
  • Acquisition: In 2006, Telefónica acquired O2 UK for £18 billion, retaining the O2 brand and UK headquarters.

Network Coverage

  • Population Coverage: O2 has 99% population coverage on 2G, 3G, and 4G networks, similar to EE and Vodafone.
  • 5G Rollout: O2 has 5G services in over 160 locations and plans to expand further.
  • Rural Connectivity: O2 is committed to improving rural connectivity, aiming to bring 4G to parts of the UK where it is currently lacking.

Services and Features

  • O2 Wifi Hotspots: O2 offers free access to 7,000 super-fast WiFi hotspots across the UK, with an additional 8,000 requiring login with an O2 account.
  • O2 Priority: All customers benefit from O2 Priority, a rewards scheme providing discounts, offers, and free prize draws.
  • MVNOs: Several Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) use the O2 network, including Giffgaff, Sky Mobile, Lycamobile, and Tesco Mobile.

Sustainability

  • Net Zero Commitment: O2 aims to become the first UK mobile network to reach net zero by 2040, focusing on reducing non-renewable energy across its operations and infrastructure.

Customer Experience

  • Customer Satisfaction: O2 is recognized for its customer experience and loyalty, ranking high in the Institute of Customer Service ICS rankings.

Future Plans

  • 3G Switch-Off: O2 plans to switch off its 3G network by 2025, similar to other major networks in the UK.
  • 5G Expansion: O2 is expanding its 5G services and has entered a deal with Vodafone to exchange frequencies to improve signal quality and reliability.

O2 UK continues to invest heavily in its network, aiming to provide reliable and high-speed connectivity to its customers across the UK.

Frequency Bands

GSM

Name Interface Description
900 MHz (E-GSM) GSM

O2 United Kingdom uses the GSM 900 MHz (E-GSM) frequency band. This band is part of the GSM system, which is a second-generation (2G) cellular network technology. The GSM 900 MHz band operates on the uplink frequency range of 890 MHz to 915 MHz and the downlink frequency range of 935 MHz to 960 MHz, supporting channel numbers from 0 to 124.

Supported GSM Protocols

Name Generation
GPRS 2.5G
EDGE 2.5G

UMTS

Name Interface Description
B1 (2100 MHz) UMTS

O2 United Kingdom uses the UMTS frequency band B1 (2100 MHz). This band was deployed in December 2002.
B8 (900 MHz GSM) UMTS

O2 United Kingdom uses the UMTS B8 (900 MHz GSM) frequency band. This band is deployed for UMTS services.

Supported UMTS Protocols

Name Generation
UMTS 3G
HSDPA 3.5G
HSPA+ 3.5G (4G speed)

LTE

Name Interface Description
B3 (1800 MHz +) LTE

O2 United Kingdom uses LTE Band 3 (1800 MHz) for its 4G network. The exact bandwidth of this band is 2 × 5.8 MHz, indicating that it operates on two blocks of paired spectrum, each with a bandwidth of 5.8 MHz.
B20 (800 MHz DD) LTE

O2 United Kingdom uses LTE B20 (800 MHz DD) for its LTE network deployments. This frequency band is particularly known for its wide area coverage and deep penetration, making it suitable for regional and rural environments, as well as in-building coverage. It supports carrier aggregation with other bands to enhance bandwidth and performance. The 800 MHz band is also popular for IoT applications like eMTC (LTE Cat M1) and NB-IoT (LTE Cat NB1) due to its wide coverage characteristics. However, it does not easily support Massive MIMO and beamforming technologies due to its large wavelength.
B1 (2100 MHz) LTE

O2 United Kingdom uses LTE frequency band B1 (2100 MHz). This band was deployed in 2024.
B8 (900 MHz) LTE

O2 United Kingdom uses LTE band B8, which operates at 900 MHz. This band was deployed on August 4, 2024.
B28 (700 MHz APT) LTE

O2 United Kingdom uses the LTE B28 (700 MHz APT) frequency band. This band operates between 703 MHz and 803 MHz, supporting channel bandwidths of 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz. The band is used for 4G LTE networks and is known for its excellent propagation characteristics, allowing signals to penetrate buildings and cover larger geographic areas with less infrastructure. O2 UK added this frequency band to its network on August 4, 2024.

Supported LTE Protocols

Name Generation
LTE 4G

5G NR

Name Interface Description
N1 (2100 MHz) 5G NR

O2 United Kingdom uses the 5G NR frequency band N1 (2100 MHz) for its 5G services. This band covers the frequency range from 1920 to 2170 MHz. The deployment of this band for 5G services by O2 is not specified in the provided information.
N8 (900 MHz) 5G NR

O2 United Kingdom uses the 5G NR frequency band n8, which covers the 900 MHz range. The uplink frequency spans from 880 to 915 MHz, and the downlink frequency spans from 925 to 960 MHz. The duplex spacing is 45 MHz, and the supported channel bandwidths are 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz. The n8 band is known for its excellent range and building penetration due to its propagation characteristics and is often used for re-farming existing 3G and 4G networks to support 5G services.
N28 (700 MHz) 5G NR

O2 United Kingdom uses the 5G NR frequency band n28, which operates at 700 MHz. This band is used for FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) and provides a core "coverage layer" useful for IoT and low-rate applications. The deployment details for O2's use of this band are not specified.
N78 (3500 MHz) 5G NR

O2 United Kingdom uses the 5G NR frequency band N78, which corresponds to the 3500 MHz band. The deployment of this band for 5G services in the UK is expected to become available for mobile use as early as June 2020, but it may not be fully rolled out across the country until 2022.

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