EE doubles 4G users to 687,000 - claims it is on target to sign-up one million by 2014

Some 2.6 per cent of its UK customers are now using 4G

The UK's biggest mobile network, Everything Everywhere (EE), claims that it has more than doubled its 4G customer base to 687,000 in the second quarter to the end of June.

The company, established as a joint venture between France Telecom's Orange and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile, said that 4G monthly adoption rates were on target to reach or exceed its goal of one million 4G customers by the end of 2013.

In the first quarter, EE had claimed that its 4G customer base of 318,000 showed a strong take-up, despite representing only 1.2 per cent of EE's 26.4 million UK users. Its latest figures show this has increased to about 2.6 per cent.

The increase was helped by 56 per cent of new and upgrading customers choosing 4G contracts or 4G-ready smartphones.

However, the mobile operator's turnover of £3.2bn was 2.3 per cent lower than the second quarter in 2012, while its service revenue of £2.84bn was down 4.4 per cent from the previous year, which it blamed partly on the impact of regulatory cuts.

EE said that 55 per cent of its customers are now on post-paid plans, with a net increase in contract customers of 216,000. It said that only 1.1 per cent of its contract customers had moved away from EE, which was a record low for the company.

Data demand

There was also an eight per cent year-on-year increase in non-voice revenue, meaning that just as in the first quarter of 2013, more than half the money spent by the average customer (of both 3G and 4G contracts) is for data and messaging rather than phone calls.

EE also saw a nine per cent year-on-year revenue growth in its fixed broadband business in the second quarter.

At the end of June, EE claimed that it had more than 2,400 corporate accounts using 4G, including retail chain IKEA, Lloyd's Register Group, The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

EE said its 4G network now covers almost 60 per cent of the UK population, with the service going live in 10 more towns across the UK today. Those towns are: Altrincham, Bedford, Camberley, Crawley, Farnborough, Farnham, Maidstone, Rochdale, Tonbridge and Welwyn Garden City.

The double speed 4G service, which offers average speeds of 24-30Mbps, according to EE, has also been switched on in Belfast, Newcastle and Southampton, taking the total number of cities with the "superfast" 4G speeds to 15.

It said that later in the year, it plans to introduce speed-differentiated 4G plans, allowing new customers to choose between 4G and double speed 4G.