Virgin Media O2 has extended its 5G Standalone (5G SA) network to the West Midlands, UK.

The carrier has upgraded its existing 5G network across the West Midlands, including in Birmingham, the country's traditional 'second city.'

O2's 5G SA network has been rolled out to other towns and cities in the region, including Coventry, Cannock, Dudley, Stoke-on-Trent, Solihull, Stratford-upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa, Rugby, Warwick, Wolverhampton, and West Bromwich.

Virgin Media O2 notes that the upgrades take its 5G SA rollout across the UK to 47 large towns and cities, 79 smaller towns, and 597 rural villages.

The 5G SA network is not reliant on older mobile generations - it solely uses a 5G core network - and is based on the cloud.

The service increases network capacity, cuts latency, and can connect to an increased number of connected devices.

5G SA enables network slicing, which allows telcos to offer dedicated services for a host of business use cases.

The telco launched its 5G SA network in February 2024. The carrier said this network is now available for 85 percent of the UK's population.

Unlike EE, Virgin Media O2 doesn't charge a premium for customers to use its 5G SA service.

Further network upgrades are expected as part of the telco's pledge to invest £700 million ($939m) on its network this year.