Three UK says it’ll be adding 4G connectivity to all its existing price plans and won’t be charging any extra for the faster service. Customers with a compatible phone will be able to enjoy a 4G connection from Three as soon as it is available.
The network provider, which is acquiring some 4G-enabled 1800MHz spectrum from EE, plans to introduce 4G LTE service later this year. It’s also bidding in Ofcom’s current 800MHz/2.6GHz auction.
Dual-carrier (DC) HSDPA network coverage from Three already reaches 55% of the UK population and is planned to reach 80% population coverage by the end of March this year. This promises a theoretical speed that's effectively twice as fast as the previous maximum for a 3G connection and is what Three currently describes as its ‘Ultrafast network’.
Dave Dyson, CEO of Three UK, said “Our customers choose Three because they love the internet and know they can get great speeds and great value on our award-winning network. As we add the next wave of technology to our Ultrafast network, we’ve listened to our customers and thought long and hard about the right way to do it. We don’t want to limit Ultrafast services to a select few based on a premium price and we’ve decided our customers will get this service as standard.”