U.K. operator EE said it has signed up more than 500,000 customers to its recently launched LTE service, with plans for further increase network speeds and broaden available rate plans. The carrier, which launched LTE services late last year, said the network will cover 55% of the country’s population by the end of the month and is on track for 98% coverage by the end of 2014.
EE reported that in the coming weeks it planned to rollout enhancements to its LTE network that will double theoretical download speeds to 80 megabits per second, with average speeds seen by consumers increasing to 30 Mbps. That update is expected to begin first in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield.
EE announced in April that it was set to double the amount of spectrum supporting its LTE network with the increase of 1.8 GHz spectrum dedicated to its offering from the current 10 megahertz to 20 megahertz. The carrier noted the move should see average network speeds jump to 20 megabits per second.
During the recently completed spectrum auction conducted by U.K. regulator Ofcom, EE spent $896 million for 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 800 MHz band and 70 megahertz of spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band.
As for new rate plans, EE said it plans this summer to offer shared data plans and prepaid mobile broadband plans. The shared plans will allow customers to share data buckets across multiple devices similar to what domestic carriers rolled out last year. The prepaid offering will provide for mobile broadband connectivity for tablets, laptop computers and mobile hotspot devices without a contract.
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