EE’s about to invest £1.5bn to expand 4G and rural mobile network coverage by 2017
EE is planning to nvest billions of pounds into expanding its mobile network and coverage in rural areas, which help its 4G coverage surpass 2G by 2017
The mobile network, which will soon be owned by BT when a £12.5bn deal goes through, will spend £1.5bn over the next three years aimed at improving the UK’s mobile infrastructure across the country.
This includes bringing 4G to more than 99 per cent of the UK population and doubling the speed of 4G for 90 per cent.
Some of the UK’s biggest cities will get even higher capacity 4G+ by 2017, while voice and data coverage across the country's rural locations will increase to 90 per cent for voice and data calls and reliability will reach more than 99 per cent.
That means the double-speed 4G already available in some cities will bring 60mbps speeds to the rest of the country. Some 20 cities across the country will be upgraded to 4G+, which will more than double the existing "double speed" 60mbps service to 150mps.
EE chief executive Olaf Swantee said: “Stage one of our network strategy saw us overhaul UK mobile networks, launching 4G and changing the way people and businesses use their smart devices. This revolution of the mobile landscape has made the UK a leader in global communications once again.
“Today we’re announcing the next stage with a commitment to, once again, radically improve mobile coverage, this time with a strong focus on rural UK, all while continuing to increase speeds and capacity with deeper coverage in more cities,” he added.