BT has announced that its 5G Standalone (or 5G+ as the carrier calls it) network has extended to more than 80 percent of the UK population.

The coverage update comes just over two years after EE launched its 5G SA network in the UK.

While the 5G SA network has expanded in the UK to more locations, including Bicester, Chester, Durham, Portrush, and more, BT also revealed that it's aiming to bolster this even further with plans to trial AI-RAN on EE’s live network next year.

It would be the first time the carrier has trialed the technology, on which it will be working with AI-RAN pioneers Nvidia and Nokia. Finnish vendor Nokia and GPU giant Nvidia first penned an agreement to develop AI-ready RAN solutions back in 2024, long before Nvidia became an investor in the vendor.

These trials, set to take place in Birmingham, England, next year, will assess how AI could make mobile networks more responsive to customers' needs.

The trials will take the technology from lab testing to EE's live network, noted BT, which said if the trial is successful, AI-RAN could help provide faster data speeds, more consistent connections, and allow the network to respond more intelligently as customer demand changes.

“We’re seeing real momentum behind 5G+ as we progress towards our goal of 99 percent population coverage by 2030 – both in the pace of our rollout and in the amount of data customers are now using over the network. But reaching more people is only part of the story. We’re continuing to invest in making the network smarter and more responsive too, exploring technologies such as AI-RAN that could help us stay ahead of growing demand and deliver an even better experience for customers," said Greg McCall, chief security and networks officer, BT Group.

Today's announcement coincides with Nvidia's GTC event in Berlin this week (which is being covered by both DCD and SDx Central), with Nokia confirming that French telco Orange plans to progress on testing AI-RAN in both lab and real network conditions, while Deutsche Telekom and Finland's Elisa have also logged progress on trials.

EE said it's also increasing the capacity on its mobile network, which includes the delivery of its first 2.8Gbps microwave link, 40 percent more capacity than its previous 2Gbps benchmark.