Everything Everywhere, parent company of T-Mobile UK and Orange UK this week announced a re-branding that will see the company become 'EE.' The EE name will also carry over to a brand new mobile network and will offer the UK’s only 4G mobile service complemented by fixed-line fibre broadband.
UK telecoms regulator Ofcom last month approved an Everything Everywhere application to repurpose existing 3G spectrum to provide 4G LTE coverage. This means EE will be able to offer LTE service before the 4G spectrum auction set to take place at the end of this year. Once Ofcom gave Everything Everywhere the greenlight to roll out its own LTE service (as of September 11), the company announced that it would be introducing a new brand for its 4G LTE service. This week that brand was unveiled as 'EE.' As Everything Everywhere said last month, the EE brand will exist alongside Orange and T-Mobile.
Everything Everywhere says its 4G network will cover a third of the UK population in 2012. Outside of 4G cities, there will, of course, be access to regular 3G coverage. The company plans to expand its coverage quickly, covering 70 percent of the population by next year. The goal is for 98 percent of the UK population to be covered by 2014.
EE's new 4G LTE network is launching in the coming weeks and will offer a number of LTE devices, including the Galaxy S III, the Lumia 920, the Lumia 820, and the HTC One XL.
