EE Taunts Competition: 4G Market is a Bit Lonely
EE wants a bit of company.
Everything Everywhere has had a pretty lengthy lead on the competition when it comes to the UK's 4G LTE market. The company launched its 4G network eight months ago, in October of last year, and is still all on its own, despite the fact that Vodafone, O2 and Three all acquired spectrum in Ofcom's spectrum auction earlier this year.
Speaking today, EE said it didn't think it was 'fair' that Vodafone and O2 hadn't yet launched their networks. TechRadar cites EE's Director of Network Integration & LTE, Mansoor Hanif, as saying:
"I think they've [O2 and Vodafone] been a little bit unfair with us. We all got a fair shot at rolling out 4G networks fast. We're happy and we're actually quite surprised the others have been slow, we're feeling a bit lonely."
Hanif's remarks were made at a press briefing in London. The EE exec also said that his company wanted "clear, fair competition." Late in May, Vodafone revealed that it wouldn't be launching its 4G LTE network until the end of the summer.
"We are convinced our own 4G will be better performing," said Vodafone's chief executive, Vittorio Colao, said at the time. "We want to be able to launch it when it's really ready. End of the summer means when there is going to be a good commercial window for launching it."
Meanwhile, O2 has promised more details of its 'mind-blowingly aggressive' roll-out this summer while Three UK has said it will be the end of the year before it rolls out its 4G service.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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chicofehr Sounds like they are bragging to me. I'm sure they are laughing to have it all to themselves. This is just a PR thing to make them selves sound human.Reply -
pacomac No point in having LTE without unlimited data, something EE doesn't offer. Unless they wipe the smirk off their greedy faces and offer unlimited data ill be moving to Orange or T-Mobile. As an Orange customer being taken over by EE I'm cheesed off with their charges and lack of coverage.Reply -
customer_reports EE everything everywhere customer service is abysmally poor, the devices they sell are faulty and the communication from their staff is misinformation!Reply