Everything Everywhere (EE) has unveiled 4G pricing plans and a raft of services set for debut on 30 October.
Prices for consumers will start at 36 per month, and will include unlimited calls, texts and 500MB of data. This rises to 41 per month for 1GB, 46 for 3GB, 51 for 5GB and tops out at 56 for 8GB of allowance.
Small business will be offered packages starting from 35 per month ex VAT, which will include 1GB of data allowance, bundled with unlimited calls and texts. Corporate organisations will be able to purchase 1GB of data starting from 11 per month (excluding calls and text).
The full corporate pricing plans is as follows:
To avoid bill shock 1GB, 4GB and 8GB tariffs will be capped at 50 and 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB tariffs will be capped at 200.
Larger business users will be able to take advantage of sharer plans, whereby four employees will be able to have individual data allowances and then tap into a shared allowance if they go over.
EE plans to activate 4G in 10 cities on the 30 October:
London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and Glasgow
Additionally, 4G is expected to be up and running in Belfast, Derby, Hull, Nottingham, Newcastle, by Christmas.
EE will be offering a range of 4G compatible devices including:
Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Huawei Ascend, HTC One X, Nokia Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 (launching in November).
Mobile Mi-Fi devices will also be available, with the ability to support 5 connections. Users who have already purchased an iPhone 5 via EE will still need to replace their SIM to activate the service.
Users can expect speeds to average between 8-12Mbps, which Max Taylor, director of corporate marketing at EE, noted is five times faster than 3G.
"The 4G network will allow businesses such as construction and retail to set up internet access rapidly, without having to wait 30-90 days to install fixed line services," he told IT Pro.
"By Christmas 2012, EE will have a third of the UK covered with 4G and we expect to have 98 per cent coverage by 2014."
