Today both Vodafone and O2 have launched their 4G networks in the UK. While these two major mobile providers seek to kick-off their next generation networks, rivals have sought to upstage them. Yesterday EE announced the hundredth town (Accrington) added to its 4G network and at midnight Three announced its 4G rollout plans, much anticipated by tech enthusiasts because of reasonably priced unlimited data tariffs.
From today Vodafone and O2 are rolling out their 4G networks in three UK cities; London, Leeds and Bradford. We have run news stories about Vodafone's and O2's 4G networks and tariffs before, when they were announced. In Vodafone's case London is initially covered and the aim is to cover Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield before the year is over. It will seek to differentiate its 4G service by partnerships with Sky Sports Mobile TV and Spotify, depending upon your fancy. Vodafone 4G tariffs start at £26pm for SIM-only unlimited minutes/texts and 2GB of data contract.
O2's 4G service offerings were detailed before on HEXUS when they were announced. Initially O2 4G will be available in London, Leeds and Bradford. Ten other cities are hoped to be covered by O2 4G by the end of the year; Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, Sheffield, Manchester and Edinburgh. Like Vodafone its lowest priced 4G tariff is £26 per month, this time you get unlimited minutes/texts and 1GB of data. O2 hopes to attract users to its 4G service with exclusive music (O2 Tracks), sport (Priority Sports) and gaming (free Gameloft 4G game data) content.
Yesterday EE was very happy to announce its hundredth location to be covered by 4G. The statement was clearly timed to show how much more coverage EE customers can get compared to the newly launched competitive services. The firm also announced double speed services were being made available in Sunderland, Sutton Coldfield, Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. EE currently has nearly 700,000 customers on its network.
Also at midnight Three made its first announcement concerning its 4G network rollout schedule. In a blog post entitled Get Ready for 4G the company wrote "I’m really pleased to announce, that in December, London, Birmingham and Manchester will see the start of our 4G roll out... We’ll be busy rolling out in a further 50 cities by the end of 2014. And by the end of 2015? Well we aim to have covered a massive 98% of the population by then." Three's current unlimited data offerings are very popular with tech enthusiasts and the company seems well aware of this as it makes a point of crowing that "our famous All You Can Eat data offering will still be available on 4G". Also customers won't have to pay to upgrade, anyone with a 4G ready device will get 4G when it is available in their area.
