EE Adds 493,000 More 4G Customers As Network Reach Grows

EE added 493,000 new 4G customers during the third quarter of 2013, while its LTE service is also  gaining traction among businesses.

The operator said that its 4G base up had grown to around 1.2 million during in the three months leading up to 30 September 2013, fuelled by “strong progress” in upgrading existing customers to 4G, with migrations showing high single digit percentage increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

EE now has more than 3,200 corporate customers now using 4G. It pointed to companies such as Canon, Expedia and Kimberly-Clark, as well as eight Premiership and Championship Football clubs, four of Britain’s top 10 insurers, two of the Big Four accounting firms and 34 UK Universities.

Business appeal

It revealed that its revenue fell 2.4 percent year-on-year from £1.671bn to £1.631bn, but did not say much else as EE does not report its profit or net income figures on a quarterly basis, and only reveals them during its half yearly or annual report.

“Consumers and businesses across the UK are recognising that EE has the best network for the smartphone era, with more superfast 4G coverage than all the other networks combined,” said Neal Milsom, CFO of EE. “We attracted half million 4G customers in the quarter and large companies including ASDA, BT, Canon, Expedia, Kimberly-Clark and Virgin Media selected EE’s network to help grow their businesses.”

EE was the first operator to launch a 4G network in the UK and its network is now available in 117 towns and cities, and it plans to cover 140 by the end of the year. In contrast, rivals Vodafone and O2 only launched their 4G networks in August, while Three does not plan to rollout LTE until December, although it has promised not to charge an additional premium for the service.

Rootmetrics said that while O2 and Vodafone’s 4G networks performed strongly during their first three weeks of operation, they both trailed EE 4G in terms of speed. Rootmetrics said that EE led the way in terms of 4G-only speeds, recording 29.6 Mbps, around 20-30 percent faster than O2, which achieved 23.3 Mbps and Vodafone, which reached 20.8Mbps.

It is this speed and coverage that has gained EE popularity among TechWeek readers, who said in a recent poll they were more likely to opt for its 4G service over any other operator.

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