Everything Everywhere switches on 4G with £22m investment
LIVERPOOL and Manchester are among the first 11 locations to be able to benefit from ultra-fast 4G mobile data.
Mobile operator Everything Everywhere – the new brand name for Orange and T-Mobile – has stolen a march on its rivals by launching its service from today, rather than in the middle of next year and is spending more than £20m to upgrade its stores in the two cities.
4G will allow users to access downloads speeds of between five and 10 times that of 3G. The service will run on the network’s 1800MHz spectrum, a band not owned by either O2 or Vodafone.
For business users, 4G will mean they can access download speeds faster than many WiFi services wherever they are. Advanced, data-intensive services will therefore run more quickly and smoothly.
EE is investing £13.8m in Manchester where 17 Orange and T-Mobile stores will be re-vamped, and in Liverpool five shops including those in Paradise Place, Liverpool One and Parker Street stores, will have a full refurbishment.
Jason Salt, regional manager for EE in Manchester said: “Manchester has always been at the forefront of media and technology, and there is a real demand for the latest developments. We are delighted that we are able to offer this service to Manchester as one of the first cities in our roll-out.
“From today, customers signing up to the new service here in Manchester will be able to download access a whole range of media and internet services at phenomenal speeds.”
Anthony Potts, regional manager for Merseyside, added: “We are incredibly excited about being one of the first cities in the UK to launch the 4G mobile and Fibre Broadband service.”
Existing customers of Orange and T-mobile will have to upgrade their contracts if they want to benefit from 4G speeds. Prices for consumers and business will be around £35-£36 per month. SMES will be able to share their data allowance across all users and devices.
