British carrier Everything Everywhere, known as EE, has revealed that 318,000 people have signed up for its 4G LTE service, just five months after it launched the first 4G network in the country. The carrier hopes to extend the number past 1 million UK customers using its high-speed network by the end of the year.
British carrier EE is planning to double its spectrum allocation and increase its 4G speed in the country, before other phone networks are able to launch their own 4G LTE offerings. It plans to roll out its expanded spectrum service to 10 cities by June, and to trial carrier aggregation in an effort to provide even more bandwidth to its service.
UK regulator Ofcom has closed its 4G spectrum auction earlier than anticipated. Mainstream British carriers Vodafone, Telefonica, Everything Everywhere, and Three, as well as BT subsidiary Niche Spectrum Ventures, have won various sections of the 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum bands, though the money earned by the UK Treasury through the auction is far below what it expected.
The first 4G-based carrier in the United Kingdom has announced its network expansion plans for early 2013. An extra 17 towns will receive the high-speed mobile access from Everything Everywhere, now EE, by March, on top of the 14 existing towns and cities that it has launched in, and the four areas set to go live before the end of this year.
Everything Everywhere has turned on its 4G network in the UK. The new network, jointly created by Orange and T-Mobile, has gone live in 11 cities across the country, in the first wave of the carrier's national rollout that will see 98 percent of the UK population covered by the end of the year 2014.
The UK may have a quicker overall rollout of faster mobile network services than previously thought. Mobile carriers Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone, and Three have stopped their legal threats, and have joined together to create a company specifically to aid in deploying LTE services in the 800MHz band by clearing it of TV signals.
The UK's first 4G service has officially been announced. Everything Everywhere, formed by the combination of carriers Orange and T-Mobile, has named the new network EE, turning the network on today. The service stands to offer not only 4G LTE services to customers, but also a fibre broadband service that will reach 11 million homes and businesses by the end of the year.
Ofcom is allowing Everything Everywhere to use its existing spectrum for 4G services in the UK, despite carrier resentment. The statement on the regulator's website approves Everything Everywhere's rebranding request, which would see the 1,800MHz spectrum used for the 4G rollout from September 11 this year, well before the expected start of 4G services next year by other carriers.
The blame for the slow creation of a 4G network in the UK lies with carriers, according to a government minister. Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, told the Future of Entertainment summit in London that repeated legal threats to Ofcom from mobile service providers are causing delays, as opposed to government interference. Vaizey referred to the continued problems Ofcom faces from carriers, saying “Every single one is threatening to sue, not Ofcom, if they get it wrong, which is continuing to prolong the roll out of 4G in Britain.”
Despite approving a deal for Everything Everywhere's proposed 4G network, UK regulator Ofcom has given competing networks more time to comment on the proposal. The extension was done at the request of stakeholders, and was pushed back from April 17 until May 8 of this year. Vodafone and O2 have filed complaints that suggest the new spectrum would give Everything Everywhere an unfair advantage by being the first to get to the market.
UK regulator Ofcom has approved (PDF) Everything Everywhere's planned formal rollout of LTE in the UK. The pairing of Orange and T-Mobile can reuse its 1,800MHz spectrum from 2G to run its LTE. Its coverage will come on top of whatever frequencies Everything Everywhere gets from upcoming LTE auctions.
T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom may be looking to offload T-Mobile UK after AT&T dropped its bid for T-Mobile USA, insiders asserted Wednesday. Tips to Bloomberg had it in the early phases of considering a British "exit" now that AT&T's $39 billion proposal had been deemed anti-competitive. The choices could include anything from letting Orange UK take over the other half of the Everything Everywhere partnership to an outside company.
Everything Everywhere has announced that its T-Mobile and Orange brands in the UK will soon benefit from approximately £1.5 billion (~$2.3 billion USD) in network investments. The funds are said to be primarily allocated for building an extensive 4G LTE network that will be available for subscribers from both carriers.
The largest wireless spectrum auction in the UK may be pushed back to the spring of 2012, according to a Tuesday report. The country's regulator, Ofcom, blamed the delay on many technical and legal issues. The potential delay is at least three months later than originally planned, though Ofcom added it has always said the original timescale was ambitious.
The three largest UK wireless providers that include O2, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere have announced they will join forces to offer mobile wallet services to customers. According to MocoNews, the three will offer a cross-platform solution to banks, merchants, advertisers and other marketing partners to get the technology and its widespread use off the ground. The cooperation seems to be just what NFC needs, as the hardware is becoming increasingly available, with many of the Android-powered handsets getting it and the OS itself coming with the needed software hooks.
UK wireless providers BT and Everything Everywhere are set to begin an LTE trial and are looking for volunteers in a specific area in the UK. The testing is to occur in South Newquay, UK, a rural area that is expensive to bring wireless services to between September and December. Those who test the technology will be the first to do so in the UK.
UK carrier Orange will soon carry subsidized iPads, a business publication claims. Prices are expected to start at about £200, well below the region's normal price for a 16GB 3G iPad, which is £529. The tradeoff is an obligation to take an 18- or 24-month data contract; it's not yet clear if there will be any differences in monthly fees under a contract.
Orange and T-Mobile today firmed up most of their plans for their new UK merger. The two will keep their names but operate under the Everything Everywhere banner and will share the same network. Roaming on each other's network will be free later this year and should eventually see both share a single large coverage map.
