EE launched the UK's first (and so far only) 4G LTE network last October. Nearly six months on, the company is eager to share its progress. According to the carriers quarterly results, Everything Everywhere has signed up 318,000 4G subscribers since the October launch. Not only that, but the company says its on track to deliver 4G to 55 percent of the UK population by June, and 70 percent by the end of the year. EE expects to meet its target of more than one million 4G customers by the end of 2013.
"Today's results are in-line with our expectations, and we are making good progress focusing on high value segments," said Neal Milsom, COO of EE. "We're announcing 318,000 4G customers after just five months of trading, strong postpaid net adds and continued growth in our underlying average revenue per user. We expect to strengthen our industry leadership position in the year ahead as the 4G roll out continues and we introduce double-speed 4GEE."
Earlier this month, EE revealed plans to double its network speeds in multiple cities this coming summer. The company plans to bump speeds for Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, and Sheffield. The arrival of double-speed 4G (which EE claims enables lab speeds of 130 Mbps), will boost average speeds for 4GEE customers to more than 20 Mbps (this is double the current average).
EE launched its 4G LTE network last year with special permission from telecoms watchdog Ofcom. The company was able to launch before anyone else because it reproposed some of its existing 3G spectrum rather than waiting for Ofcom's spectrum auction in early 2013. Though the aforementioned auction is done and dusted, EE remains the only 4G LTE carrier in the UK.
