Everything Everywhere, which was given the go-ahead to use its existing 1800MHz spectrum for next-generation mobile services last month, has revealed its 4G plans for the UK. It’s also said it’ll be branding the new service - and the parent company - simply as ‘EE’.
Its EE 4G LTE network is being switched on for testing from today and is expected to be available to customers in 16 cities by Christmas 2012, covering a third of the population. 4G services will then continue to be rolled out, reaching 70% of the UK population next year and 98% of the UK population in 2014.
The first cities to receive 4G mobile broadband from EE will be London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Southampton.
The new EE brand will run alongside Orange and T-Mobile, which will remain for the company’s existing 2G and 3G services, although retail shops will be rebranded as EE. Mobile phones from both networks will also start to show ‘EE’ as the chosen network rather than ‘Orange’ or ‘T-Mobile’.
Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE, said “Today we launch a new company, a new network and a new brand for Britain. Our plans to revolutionise the UK communications market with a faster network and an exciting new brand for the digital age are built on solid investment and a simple belief that customers deserve better. We look forward to connecting the country with superfast mobile speeds in the coming weeks, months and years. And it starts today, with the announcement of our new business, our new brand and a new digital infrastructure that our company, our customers and the country can be proud of.”
4G tariffs from EE will be announced in the next few weeks, with devices including the Samsung Galaxy SIII LTE, the Nokia Lumia 920, the Nokia Lumia 820, the HTC One XL, the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE, the Huawei E589 Mobile WiFi unit and the Huawei E392 Mobile Broadband dongle.
The company is also launching a fibre broadband service to homes and businesses.