Everything Everywhere says its 4G network has now been rolled out in 50 towns and cities.
The 13 latest towns and cities included Doncaster, Leicester, Luton, Reading and St Alban, the operator said, bringing the total to 50 towns and cities with access to 4G five months after launch. This meant 50% of the UK population was now covered by the country’s, currently, only 4G network, which launched in October of last year.
Everything Everywhere (EE) said it was committed to launching 4G to 80 towns and cities in total by the end of June.
EE chief executive Olaf Swantee said the netwrk remained ahead of schedule with its 4G roll out.
“We are working hard to deliver 4G to 70% of the UK population by the end of this year, and 98% of the population by the end of 2014.”
Other 4G networks
EE’s monopoly of the 4G market could be set to change, with the 4G spectrum auction now complete and other operators expected to launch their 4G networks mid-year.
The major network operators including Vodafone and Telefonica purchased spectrum to facilitate rolling out these networks at the auction, which concluded in February.
However Three said recently that it was in no rush to launch its 4G service, instead waiting on its 3.5G HSPA+ network which it has been rolling out over the past 18 months.
What is 4G?
Ofcom has said the typical 4G user will see download speeds at least five to seven times those seen on existing 3G networks, based on 3G speeds of 1Mbit/s on average and 4G being 6Mbit/s on average.
EE said its customers saw an average speed of above 16Mbps.