EE UK Details 4G Mobile Broadband City Expansion Plans for 2013

Mobile operator EE (4GEE) has this morning announced that its new 4G (LTE at 1800MHz) based superfast Mobile Broadband network will be expanded to cover a further 17 new cities in the United Kingdom by March 2013.

At present EE intends to enable 4G in 18 cities by the end of 2012 (the original plan was for 16), which will cover a third of the UK population. In the first three months of 2013 the 4G service will then be expanded to Bradford, Chelmsford, Coventry, Doncaster, Dudley, Leicester, Luton, Newport, Reading, Rotherham, St Albans, Sunderland, Sutton Coldfield, Walsall, Watford, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

Overall the new coverage will bring 4G to approximately four million more people, with the network eventually expected to reach 98% of UK people by 2014.

Olaf Swantee, EEs Chief Executive Officer, said:

“By the end of the first quarter of 2013, 4G will be available in 35 towns and cities across the UK, making superfast mobile accessible to thousands more customers and businesses every day. We’re delighted with the progress of the 4G rollout – we are improving the network every day, delivering superfast mobile to more and more people right across metropolitan areas, whether they’re using their devices outdoors or in their homes and offices.

This has struck a chord with businesses in particular, with great demand being seen. We’re delighted to already be powering large, medium and small businesses with 4G.”

The operator has also worked to upgrade their mobile backhaul (capacity) to support the new service speeds by connecting their 3G and 4G masts to faster Gigabit Ethernet connections, which aims to ensure a “great quality of experience, high speed and low latency“.

Meanwhile EE claim to be “significantly increasing speeds” on its older 3G network by upgrading to DC-HSPA technology. By the end of 2012 this variant of 3G will be live on 40% of their network and accessible for EE, Orange and T-Mobile customers with a compatible handset.