Building the Network of the Future: EE's Competitive Strategy with 5G SA and Wi-Fi 7

First to the UK market with Wi-Fi 7 and investing in a 5G SA network that stands out in Europe for its spectrum depth, EE is leveraging its best-in-class networks to support an ambitious convergence strategy and differentiate itself in a crowded market by delivering premium network quality. 

Ookla has published extensive research on the rollout of 5G Standalone (SA) and Wi-Fi 7 across Europe in recent months, highlighting notable improvements in quality of experience where the technologies have been commercialized, while also revealing significant disparities in deployment progress between countries and operators. The research uncovered a common strategy among leading European operators, who are investing in 5G SA and Wi-Fi 7 as competitive differentiators, positioning themselves as premium market leaders in network quality across the converged experience.

Analysis of crowd-sourced Speedtest® data and controlled testing from RootMetrics®, as featured in the research, identified EE as one of Europe’s leading operators—boasting a large and growing high-performing 5G SA footprint, along with the UK’s first-of-its-kind Wi-Fi 7 CPE solution.

To gain deeper insight into EE’s competitive strategy, Ookla’s European Industry Analyst, Luke Kehoe, sat down with BT Group’s Managing Director of Mobile Networks, Reza Rahnama, at MWC 2025 to explore the operator’s drive for network leadership in the UK through 5G SA and Wi-Fi 7.

Watch this video to learn:

• Why EE has gone “all-in” on 5G SA, backed by significant spectrum depth and a large, expanding site footprint across the UK. 
• From a quality of experience standpoint, what do improvements in upload speed and latency enabled by 5G SA mean for the end user.
• How does 5G SA fit into EE’s broader convergence strategy and dovetails with its Wi-Fi 7 push.
• How EE is building a network of the future that is ready to support the demands of emerging AI services.