BT To Offer 4G To Businesses This Summer And Consumers From April 2015

BT is set to offer 4G to its BT Business Mobile customers this summer, before offering mobile services to consumers from April 2015.

The telecoms giant has been offering mobile products to businesses and employees for some time, but has not been a major provider to the consumer market since it sold O2, formerly BT Cellnet, in 2005.

These business services previously relied on Vodafone’s network, but BT recently signed a mobile virtual network agreement (MVNO) with EE and acquired 2.6GHz spectrum – which offers high capacity but has poor range – during the Ofcom 4G auction last year.

One single platform

“We will launch innovative new mobility services for business in the coming weeks and the first consumer services by April next year,” a spokesperson told TechWeekEurope. “The first consumer services will use our MVNO deal with EE.”

BT intends to combine 4G services with its Wi-Fi and fibre networks into a single converged platform that provide seamless connectivity for businesses, while also offering a fast and reliable data and voice network for consumers. EE’s 4G network covers 70 percent of the UK population and more than 200 towns and cities.

The MVNO would provide wide coverage, while Wi-Fi and 4G would be used for heavy data use through small cells and combined routers, possibly using the 2.6GHz spectrum. BT says such a platform would differ from Virgin Media’s quad-play packages, which are merely a collection of separate services.

BT believes it will take two years for its mobile offering to become a complete “inside-out” network but has launched a pre-registration page for businesses interested in 4G services, promising that BT 4G will have the best coverage, enable flexible working and facilitate the deployment of cloud services.

BT expansion

Earlier this month BT revealed it added 869,000 customers to its fibre broadband network and attributed much of this success to BT Sport, which is a main component of its television service and is offered free to all of BT’s broadband customers. This contributed to full year revenues of £18.3 billion and profits of £2.3 billion.

BT’s expansion into the mobile market, its continued challenge in the TV market and its ongoing dominance in fibre has a number of its competitors worried. Sky, which has enjoyed a near monopoly on premium sports rights until now, has agreed to build a fibre network in York with TalkTalk to reduce both firms’ dependence on Openreach.

This ownership model is set to be expanded to other cities, while Sky, which has no mobile network, has reportedly discussed a partnership with Vodafone, which has no fixed line presence in the UK, nor any TV service.

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