Tesco Mobile launches 5G from £15 per month SIM-only

Tesco Mobile, the MVNO that uses O2’s network, has launched it’s 5G network in the UK. It’s live in 24 locations including London, Belfast, Glasgow, Liverpool Bradford and Norwich.

Much like the O2 network it uses, 5G coverage is not city-wide anywhere in the UK yet. You can use Tesco’s coverage checker to see if your area has it yet. 

If you happen to have a 5G-ready phone, then Tesco’s prices are quite cheap with a 12 month contract 5G SIM with 5GB data costing £15 per month. With that you get 5000 UK minutes and 5000 UK texts.

That said, O2 currently has a 40GB data 5G SIM on a 12 month contract with unlimited minutes and texts for £20 per month. 

But most people don’t have a 5G phone, so Tesco Mobile offers the Samsung Galaxy A90 5G on a 36 month contract for £29.99 per month with the same data, minutes and texts as the mentioned SIM plan. Every phone it offers on contract in fact comes with this plan, including the new Galaxy S20.

If you want a 5G SIM without the 12 month contract, you can get one with 5GB for £20 per month, or up to 100GB for £35.

These prices are competitive but hardly anyone will have a 5G phone yet, meaning most people who want one will have to get a contract, or buy a 5G phone outright in order to get the SIM-only plan.

Vodafone has the Galaxy A90 5G from £38 per month and £99 upfront, but it’s a shorter 24 month contract that you might prefer to Tesco’s 36 months.

Our advice at the moment is that you probably don’t need a 5G phone. If you’re coming to the end of your contract and want to upgrade then it might be a good buy so that you have a 5G phone for the next two years as networks improve, but a lot of the time you’ll be falling back onto a 4G network while paying for a more expensive 5G contract.