EE 4G Customer Base Reaches Two Million

EE added 816,000 customers to its 4G network during the fourth quarter of 2013, bringing the total number of users on its LTE service to more than two million.

The operator attributed the increases to improved coverage, faster speeds, new shared plans and pay-as-you-go tariffs. The company also won contracts from a number of large firms last year, including Hoover and the National Grid, taking the number of corporate 4G customers to 4,100.

Service revenues for the full year were down by 3.7 percent to £5.734 billion, but EE said it had achieved a number of efficiency savings by closing around 59 retail stores and decommissioning 6,010 network sites following the 2012 merger between Orange and T-Mobile, which created the new operator.

EE 4G subscribers

EE also reported increased fixed line broadband revenues of ten percent year-on-year, 12 percent during Q4, and that it added 4.6 percent more customers.

“We successfully executed our strategy, growing our pay monthly base, delivering our targeted cost savings and achieving our best margin yet, all while cementing EE’s position as the UK’s best network for consumers and businesses alike,” said EE CEO Olaf Swantee. “2013 was the year of 4G, with two million customers enjoying the benefits of superfast connectivity on Britain’s most awarded network.”

EE is UK’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, and launched the country’s first 4G network in November 2012. It has by far the most extensive coverage of any domestic LTE operator, covering more than 70 percent of the population.

EE recently announced plans to extend coverage to major rail and road routes, 18 airports and 13 new towns, bringing the total number of LTE locations to more than 170 – far more than O2, Vodafone or Three, all of which launched competing networks last year.

Vodafone recently announced it had attracted 500,000 customers to its 4G tariffs, while Three has started to offer 4G at no extra cost to its existing ‘ultrafast’ subscribers, meaning the number of LTE users on its networks should increase as coverage spreads across the country.

Are you up to speed on 4G? Try our quiz!