EE hits 100 towns and cities milestone for 4G services

Mobile operator EE has confirmed its 4G service has gone live in 100 towns and cities less than a year since launching.

Accrington in Lancashire was officially the 100th UK town to be given access to its superfast network services, which have been rolled out to a total of 10 further towns this month.

They include Ashford, Bicester, Colchester, Guildford, Milton Keynes, Redhill, Sevenoaks, Royal Tunbridge Wells and Woking, taking the total number of towns and cities covered by the network to 105.

That means, in the ten months since the firm's 4G services were switched on, the company now serves around 60 per cent of the population, making it the UK's biggest 4G provider.

Although, with its rivals Vodafone and O2 set to switch on their 4G services tomorrow, EE's days of being the UK's sole 4G provider are now drawing to a close.

The company was handed a head start on the competition last summer, after mobile operator Ofcom granted it permission to reuse its 1800 MHz spectrum to rollout 4G services to its customers.

Meanwhile, its competitors had to await the outcome of the 4G spectrum auction before they could follow suit, which took place in February 2013.

That's not to say it's been all plain sailing for EE, as the firm's 4G pricing and data allowances were widely criticised in the past, forcing it to cut the price of some of its services.

Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE, said the key to a successful 4G launch was to make the service available to as many customers as possible.

"The more people use 4G, the more they want 4G," he said. "We have built amazing momentum with one of the fastest 4G rollouts in the world, a strong range of devices, great content offers and compelling pricing."