Three 4G Rollout Reaches 36 Towns And Cities

Three has revealed its 4G service is now available in 36 towns and cities across the UK, while it has 1.7 million customers with a compatible handset, ready to use the LTE network when it reaches their area.

The operator began its rollout of 4G in December and has since moved all of its 7.9 million customers to 4G tariffs at no extra cost. Three adds that it is on track to reach 50 cities and 200 towns by the end of the year and achieve 98 percent coverage by the end of 2015.

Three 4G rollout

CEO Dave Dyson says 4G is much more efficient at carrying data than 3G and this additional capacity is far more valuable than any premium it could levy on its customers. He believes this approach is one of the actions which has contributed to an addition of 565,000 new customers in 2013 and revenues of more than £2 million.

Dyson also cites innovations such as the introduction of the 123 pay-as-you-go tariff and the abolition of some roaming charges in 11 countries, including Australia, Ireland and the US as other reasons. He claims that since the introduction of the ‘Feel at Home’ offer, data use in the 11 countries has increased 50 fold.

“For me, [it is] a clear indication that as an industry, we have been putting barriers in the way of customer enjoyment when they travel overseas,” he says. “We must continue to challenge the market”

However this might not extend to inclusive Tube Wi-Fi access. All of Three’s main rivals, EE, O2 and Vodafone, have agreed deals with Virgin Media to offer such a service to customers, but Three says it has nothing to announce regarding the matter.

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