Four UK Cities To Receive Three 4G In December, 42 More in 2014

Three 4G will be available in four UK cities when it goes live this December, and will cover at least 42 more by the end of 2014.

The operator says Birmingham, London, Manchester and Liverpool will be the first to receive coverage, with Oldham, Dudley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton also covered by the initial rollout.

Three 4G rollout

The confirmed towns and cities that will receive Three 4G from next year are as follows: Aberdeen, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Dundee, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Gloucester, Huddersfield, Hull, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Sheffield, Slough, Southampton, Southend, Stoke, Stockport, Swindon, Watford and York.

Three is the only major UK operator not to have launched an LTE service so far, but it hopes its pledge not to charge extra for 4G and to offer unlimited data will allow it to compete favourably with Vodafone and O2, which launched last month, and EE 4G, which went live last year.

The Hutchison-owned operator also claims to have the fastest 3G network in the country thanks the rollout of HSPA+ and DC-HSPDA+ technology and it is this confidence in its existing infrastructure that has encouraged it to wait before rolling out 4G.

It recently announced plans to abolish some roaming charges in seven countries where its parent company also owns phone operators, including Austria, Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Republic of Ireland or Sweden.

Who are Britain’s mobile operators? Try our quiz!