EE 4G Speeds And Capacity To Double In 10 Cities

EE has announced plans to double the speed and capacity of its EE 4G network in ten cities by this summer, alongside the continued rollout of its LTE service in the UK.

The UK’s only current 4G operator said it will double the amount of 1800MHz bandwidth dedicated to 4G from 10MHz to 20MHz, enabling top speeds of 130Mbps in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield, with average speeds expected to be around 20Mbps. Secret tests in Wales achieved speeds of 80Mbps, according to EE.

EE said the upgrades are part of a planned roadmap that will see improvements across all of its services. 2G Equipment on the legacy networks acquired during the merger of T-Mobile and Orange is being replaced, while work on HSPA+ technology on its 3G service is ongoing.

EE 4G network upgrades

However, CEO Olaf Swantee maintained there was “a clear difference” between 3G and 4G, adding that “3G was not designed for the mobile Internet”. He said the reason why the 4G upgrades were being announced was because they now had the ability to implement them following the Ofcom auction of 4G bandwidth.

EE says that it now has 36 percent of all airwaves in the UK, something that will allow it to continue to improve its network and future-proof it future uses that haven’t even been thought of yet.

“We have so much spectrum we could carry every user in the UK and still deliver voice, text and data services,” he said. “We have an enormous amount of spectrum.

“There are other players in the UK who do not have the spectrum capacity to deliver this. Not today, not in the future.”

UK a world leader

Swantee said EE had attracted 1,000 business customers to its 4G service and was surprised by the demand from SMBs given they are traditionally conservative. He attributed this enthusiasm to an increasingly mobile workforce, high smartphone penetration and high use of mobile applications.

“The UK is uniquely mobile,” said Swantee, who said EE had the ability to create a network that would re-establish the UK as a world leader in mobile networks, having ceded its advantage to the US and countries in Asia.

“We are going to build an infrastructure with a roadmap that will be unmatched.”

Price barriers

However, despite EE’s vast spectrum resources, there appear to be no plans to offer higher data allowances or unlimited tariffs, one of the chief criticisms of its 4G service. Swantee said that although 4G users were consuming more data than 3G subscribers, EE believed that its portfolio of propositions was “about right.”

He claimed customers liked the tariffs as they are simple to understand. All EE 4G price plans include unlimited calls and texts, with customers able to choose from a number of data bundles.

“We are continuing to monitor feedback on our tariffs. Of course we will evolve them over time,” he said, but would not reveal any more details.

All of the devices currently available on the service are high end, but Swantee did admit that the price of EE 4G smartphones could in some instances be prohibitive. All of the devices currently available are high-end models, something that EE is working on.

“We are working with a number of device manufacturers to democratise 4G and make it available to more segments of the market,” he said.

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