Vodafone Ireland plans to provide 5G Standalone to more than 70% of the population by 2028 and will start trials with businesses and public sector organisations before the end of this year, as announced by Vodafone. Trials begin in Limerick and Shannon and expand to Cork, Dublin, Galway and Waterford in 2027.

The plans were announced at Vodafone’s Future Frontiers conference in Dublin, attended by more than 400 business attendees. 5G Standalone supports lower latency and network slicing, which lets Vodafone reserve network capacity for critical applications, businesses or groups of users.

The structural driver is SME digitalisation. Research presented alongside the plans found that digitalised small and medium-sized enterprises had on average 26% higher revenues than non-digitalised businesses, and separate research from Sage estimates that lifting Europe’s least-digitised SMEs to the European average could boost EU GDP by €628 billion.

“Ireland has a real opportunity to turn the next wave of technology into greater productivity, innovation and competitiveness,” said Sabrina Casalta, Chief Executive of Vodafone Ireland. She added that technologies including AI and 5G Standalone require secure, resilient digital infrastructure.

Vodafone also detailed its work with Irish construction and engineering company Sisk. It developed a secure, portable network that gives construction projects connectivity from day one, cutting the time needed to establish reliable IT services on sites by up to five weeks.

The Sisk system combines the best available mix of fibre, broadband, satellite, 4G and 5G connections, allowing project teams to access digital tools and systems earlier.

This year marks Vodafone’s 25th year in Ireland. Over that period the company has invested €20 billion in today’s terms in its networks, technology and people, which is helping prepare the network for growing demand from AI, 5G Standalone, satellite connectivity and IoT.

Vodafone Ireland is part of Vodafone Group Plc, which is based in Berkshire, England, and trades on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker VOD. The group reported revenue of €40.5 billion and adjusted EBITDAaL of €11.4 billion in its FY26 results, according to AskTraders’ coverage.

For the sector, the plan reflects mobile operators positioning standalone 5G and network slicing as business infrastructure ahead of trials with businesses and public sector organisations.