News

Everything Everywhere becomes EE, announces rollout plans for UK's first 4G network

Lumia 920 available on the new network first

Everything Everywhere becomes EE, announces rollout plans for UK's first 4G network
|

If you've ever tried multiplayer gaming over a 3G network in the UK, then today is a glorious day for you.

That's because the newly renamed EE, a joint venture between T-Mobile and Orange that was previously called Everything Everywhere, has revealed that the UK's first 4G network is going to be rolled out this year.

Rather excitingly for all mobile gamers on T-Mobile and Orange, EE is promising speeds up to five times faster than the current 3G standard.

"Our plans to revolutionise the UK communications market with a faster network and an exciting new brand for the digital age are built on solid investment and a simple belief that customers deserve better," EE CEO Olaf Swantee said at a press conference this morning in London.

"We look forward to connecting the country with superfast mobile speeds in the coming weeks, months, and years."

In fact, in four UK cities - London, Bristol, Cardiff, and Birmingham - EE's new 4G network is already in place, ready to be stress tested and tweaked before going live across the rest of the UK.

EE plans to launch its 4G network in 12 further cities - Edinburgh, Belfast, Derby, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Southampton - by the end of the year, with 70 per cent of the UK population covered by 2013, and 98 per cent by 2014.

New toys

Of course, to take advantage of a new type of mobile network, you need new types of mobile devices.

Chief among the new breed of 4G-compatible smartphones is the Nokia Lumia 920, which, according to The Verge, will be exclusively available on the new network, for a period at least, when Nokia launches its flagship Windows Phone 8 blower later in the year.

Furthermore, a 4G-enabled version of the Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC's new One XL, the mid-range Nokia 820, and the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE will be compatible with EE's 4G network.

We're also going to take a not-particularly-wild stab in the dark and suggest that Apple's upcoming iPhone 5, which should be announced tomorrow and be available around September 21st, will also tap into EE's high-speed service.

Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.