A HOST of 5G antennas could soon be installed around Bath city centre as the council launches a trial of the mobile network.

5G carries more data than 4G mobile networks, allowing people to access the internet more quickly on their phones. But 5G waves travel shorter distances through urban areas, requiring many more transmitters to be installed.

Bath and North East Somerset Council won a £773 government grant to roll out an 18-month 5G trial in Bath city centre — where data coverage is notoriously often shoddy. Between 200-300 volunteers will be handed special sim cards to test the network which, if the trial is successful, will be opened up to the public next spring.

The council has now applied to itself for a certificate of lawfulness for 16 radio and antennas all around the city centre. These will look like a flat black box and a black cylinder and, in all bar one case, will be installed on lampposts.

The antenna’s will be dotted along the route of the city’s old walls, from the city centre-end of Pulteney Bridge around to the corner of Pierrepont Street and North Parade, with two on Kingsmead Square. Two will also be located on Union Street and Stall Street.