EE Wants Six Million 4G Customers By End Of The Year

EE added 889,000 4G customers during the first quarter of 2014, bringing the total number of its LTE subscribers to 2.9 million.

This was the best ever quarter for EE 4G since it launched in November 2012, and the operator says it is on track to secure six million LTE users by the end of the year.

The company was boosted by the additions of Fujitsu, NEC and Europcar to its 5,100-strong corporate customer base while half of all T-Mobile and Orange subscribers were electing to upgrade to 4G when they renewed their contracts.

EE customer base

EE was the first UK operator to launch an LTE service and has since expanded its network to 200 towns and cities, covering 72 percent of the population. It has been named the number one network operator by independent research firm RootMetrics.

EE has the most subscribers of any 4G network and company has looked to maintain its lead through the introduction of cheaper price plans, pay-as-you-go tariffs and 4GEE Extra contracts, which offer double speeds and inclusive calls and texts from abroad.

The company says this strategy, along with the ongoing investment in its 4G network, is paying dividends.

“We are delivering strong, consistent commercial performance and continue to successfully create value through our award winning network,” says Neal Milsom, Chief Financial Officer at EE. “We signed up nearly 900,000 4G customers in a single quarter, with over one in four new customers opting for EE’s exclusive double speed 4GEE Extra plans.”

The operator also says that the number of customers of its Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) partners rose by 3.2 percent in the past year to 3.6 million, bringing the total number of connections on the EE network to 30.7 million, while it also added 20,000 users to its fixed broadband service.

Data now accounts for 47 percent of EE’s average revenue per user (ARPU) and the operator says two thirds of its customers are now on postpaid plans, which offer six times more ARPU than prepaid tariffs. However despite these increases, overall revenue fell during the quarter by 1.7 percent to £1.49 billion.

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