Half a million users now on EE's 4G, as operator makes a play for commuters and sharers
EE has revealed that half a million of its customers are now on 4G.
According to figures the operator released on Thursday, almost 200,000 extra users have opted for LTE since the end of March. With half a million 4G subscribers now on its books, that's around two percent of its total customer base now using LTE services.
EE's 4G network will cover 55 percent of the UK population by the end of June, rising to 98 percent by the close of next year.
Having built out its network mainly around the UK's cities and larger towns, the next phase of EE's network expansion will see the operator turning its attention to airports, shopping centres and commuter zones. There's no word on which ones, or when they'll get 4G coverage, though.
The operator also today debuted "sharing" plans, where 4G data limits can be split across multiple devices or users. Pricing and availability for the new plans should be available in weeks, EE said. Pay as you go plans are also on the way, and yes, there are no details on those yet either.
EE's 4G network remains the only widespread LTE service in the country. However, rival operators are expected to bring their own 4G networks online in the coming months, following a spectrum auction earlier this year.
Vodafone was the first to give a concrete hint as to when its LTE offerings might be available: earlier this week, it said it expected to have 4G services ready from late summer.
The Newbury-based operator added it had doubled its planned infrastructure spend for this year to £900m, although hasn't detailed how much of that will be devoted purely to the 4G rollout.