EE Reaches 9.3 Million 4G Customers
EE says it is on track to reach 14 million by end of 2015, but revenues are still down
EE now has 9.3 million 4G customers and its network reaches 87 percent of the UK population, cementing its position as the country’s leading LTE operator by coverage and customers.
The operator secured 1.7 million new 4G customers during the first quarter of 2015 and says it is firmly on track to reach 14 million total users by the end of the year.
It claims 96 percent of all new contracts it sells are for 4G services, with nearly half electing for the double speed 4GEE Extra service that is available to 67 percent of the country. Around 7,700 medium and large businesses are customers, including Uber and Rotary Watches.
EE gains but revenue down
EE’s post-paid tablet user base rose by 59 percent during the period, while mobile Wi-Fi demand went up by 25 percent year-on-year. There was also strong growth for EE’s fixed broadband business with 50,000 new users – the best ever performance by the unit over a single quarter. EE attributed the success to effective cross-selling and EE TV.
Overall, EE now has 30.9 million mobile and fixed connections on its network, a figure which includes M2M and customers of its Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) partners.
However despite the gains, revenue fell by 0.5 percent to £1.54bn, a figure which rises when the impact of regulation is removed. Joint-owners Deutsche Telekom and Orange have agreed a deal to sell EE to BT for £12.5bn
“We are delivering strong, consistent commercial performance by giving our customers the best mobile voice and data network experience in the UK,” said Neal Milsom, EE Chief Financial Officer. “As much of the UK market now has smartphones, we are leading the charge into new growth areas by cross-selling our innovative range of connected products including 4G tablets, 4G Wi-Fi, fixed broadband and EETV to our existing customers.”
EE plans to invest £1.5bn on its network to provide 99 percent of the UK population and 90 percent of the geographic area of the country by 2017. It is also deploying 800MHz spectrum, VoLTE and earlier this month, it enabled VoWi-Fi for customers with compatible smartphones.
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