EE to double 4G speeds for customers in 10 UK cities

Mobile operator EE has set out plans to double the speed and capacity of its 4G network at a time when its rivals are still preparing to launch their own.

The move looks set to boost the average EE customer's 4G network speed to more than 20Mbps, with customers in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield to benefit first.

The company said the enhanced services, which will also deliver headline download speeds of 80Mbps, will be made available to new and existing EE smartphone, tablet and mobile internet customers in those 10 cities before the end of the summer at no extra cost.

The company is also planning to double the amount of 1800MHz spectrum bandwidth it uses to deliver 4G to its customers from 10MHz to 20MHz in preparation for the 750 per cent growth in mobile data traffic it predicts will take place over the next three years.

EE said the changes should make it easier for business users to share and store large files in the cloud, and take advantage of remote working methods.

Olaf Swantee, chief executive officer of EE, said higher speeds and greater capacity will also ensure its 4G network can cope with the growing and changing demands of users over time.

"Mobile users in the UK have a huge appetite for data-rich applications, and this will only grow as people become more familiar with and reliant upon next generation technologies and services," he said.

"Our double speed 4G network will provide developers with the quality and speeds needed to develop the next wave of killer 4G apps," Swantee added.

The company was granted permission by mobile regulator Ofcom to launch the UK's first 4G network by reusing part of its 1800 MHz spectrum last Autumn.

The move angered the likes of O2 and Vodafone, who had to take part in the Ofcom 4G spectrum auction before they could launch similar services.

As reported by IT Pro last month, many of EE's rivals plan to start deploying 4G this summer, although Three recently announced that its services are unlikely to be live before the end of 2013.