EMEA: EE ranks No. 1 in U.K. for performance, complaints

EE, which has the biggest and arguably the most complained about mobile network in the U.K., just earned top honors in RootMetrics’ latest performance report. The research firm tested more than 920,000 locations throughout the U.K., testing networks for reliability, speed, mobile Internet, call performance and text performance. EE was at the head of every category, winning over rivals Three, O2 and Vodafone for overall performance.
The first telecom to launch LTE services in the U.K., EE was also first in RootMetrics’ rankings last year, but the firm noted that its lead is narrowing. In particular, Three is catching up in the mobile Internet category, which RootMetrics called “a two horse race” since O2 and Vodafone are lagging well behind. Last year, EE won all the categories outright, but this year, Three tied EE in the reliability rankings.
EE may have the best network in the U.K., but regulator Ofcom also found it had a complaint volume among some mobile customers that was twice the industry average, with 0.12 complaints per 1,000 customers. A new problem arose last week over its new “Priority Answer” initiative in which EE charges customers 50 pence (83 cents) to jump ahead in line on customer service calls during busy times. Angry customers took to Twitter calling the fee “disgusting” and “disgraceful.” EE claims it will use the fees to improve its service.
More telecom news from Europe:
Orange rolls out 4G in Slovakia. The France-based operator said it is launching LTE services in Slovakia. Customers that have LTE-compatible devices can switch to the faster technology at no extra charge. Orange estimates that around 100,000 customers will benefit from the upgrade. Slovakia is the eighth country where Orange has launched LTE. The others are France, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, Moldova, Poland and Romania.
In other news, Orange is reportedly looking to sell Spanish tower assets. In an effort to cut costs, the company has begun talks with interested groups to sell up to 9,400 towers.
Swisscom posts better-than-expected second quarter. The state-controlled telecom revised its outlook after posting a second-quarter profit of 1.12 billion Swiss francs ($1.23 billion) about 30 million more than expected. Swisscom now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of more than 4.4 billion Swiss francs for the entire fiscal year. The previous forecast was for 4.35 billion Swiss francs.
Croatian operator Hrvatski Telecom taps Ericsson for managed services. Ericsson signed a five-year contract with the operator, which is part of Deutsche Telekom, for the construction and maintenance of telecom infrastructure including planning and construction of fixed and mobile networks, maintenance of infrastructure, network monitoring, and field maintenance of active access and passive networks.
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