Late To Everything: the story of LTE in the UK

With LTE connectivity now a standard feature on almost every middling smartphone, it might come as a surprise that the vast majority of Brits haven't had access to a next-generation network. A little under a year ago, EE turned on the first LTE network in the country, and thanks to a complex spectrum auction peppered with in-fighting and controversy, it's taken EE's main competitors 10 months to catch up. From this morning, customers of O2 and Vodafone in select cities will finally have access to LTE, with the fourth-largest carrier, Three, remaining the only one without some sort of 4G support. So which carrier should the discerning smartphone lover opt for?

Hot on the heels of O2's announcement, Vodafone has confirmed it will switch on its 4G network on August 29th — the same day as its rival. Initially, the company will only offer its LTE service in London but it hopes to extend its network to 12 more cities by the end of the year. Today's announcement sees three of the big UK carriers fully commit to 4G — EE led the charge when it launched exclusively at the end of last year — with Three and BT yet to announce their launch dates.

Vodafone's price plans will start at £26 per month for a 12-month SIM-only deal with 2GB of data. For customers wishing to order a subsidized 4G-ready smartphone, plans will start from £34 per month on a 24-month plan and from £52 per month on a 12-month plan. All tariffs will come with a choice of either a Spotify Premium or a Sky Sports Mobile TV subscription. To incentivize existing customers to make the switch to 4G, Vodafone will give Red tariff subscribers the option to upgrade their plan for an additional £5 per month, making all plans available from August 12th.

For about nine months now, EE in the UK has had an exclusive lock on LTE service, but on August 29th it's going to have company. O2 has told the BBC that it will launch its 4G service on that date in three markets — London, Leeds, and Bradford — with ten more cities slated for 4G data by year's end. Unfortunately for O2's customers, its first offering won't compare well with what EE already has up and running. It will be initially slower than the recently enhanced EE network, will cost more (O2's basic 4G tier will reportedly run £26 per month), and it won't be compatible with the current iPhone 5's LTE bands. On that last point, Telefonica UK CEO Ronan Dunne told the BBC that he "would be frankly gobsmacked if [Apple's] roadmap didn't address that issue."

O2, which is owned by Telefonica in Spain, will soon face more than just EE in the 4G wireless space. Both Vodafone and Three are expected to launch new networks soon. To differentiate itself (and perhaps to make up for its slower initial speeds), Dunne says that O2 will offer a year's subscription to some sort of music service and other media content. The plans, first reported by The Next Web, will reportedly not include any sort of unlimited data option.

Having already enjoyed seven months as the UK's only LTE operator, EE has laid out the next phase of its plans to retain customers ahead of entry into the 4G market by its carrier rivals. Speaking at an event in London today, EE CEO Olaf Swantee announced that the carrier will boost the speed and capacity of its 4G network, doubling both the absolute top speed on EE's networks to over 80Mbps and average speed to over 20Mbps. Plans and prices will remain the same.

Ofcom has announced the winners of its long-awaited 4G spectrum auction in the UK. Major carriers O2, Vodafone, EE, and Three have all won spectrum, and so has Niche Spectrum Ventures, a subsidiary of BT. Consumer services are expected to start rolling out in spring or summer this year, and O2's allocation of 800MHz spectrum means that it is obligated to cover 98 percent of the UK population with indoor reception by the end of 2017.

Vodafone was the highest bidder and will pay over £790 million (about $1.22 billion) for a mix of 2.6GHz and 800MHz spectrum, but overall the auction raised less money than expected. While the UK Treasury had budgeted for a £3.5 billion ($5.4 billion) influx of cash, the total amount came to £2.34 billion ($3.61 billion) — about a tenth as much as the 3G spectrum auction raised in 2000.

The UK's LTE adoption story has been dominated by EE so far — with the upstart network exploiting some spare spectrum to launch its 4G service ahead of the competition — but now Three has stepped up with a major pledge that will make smartphone buyers think twice. Three has just announced that it'll not charge a price premium for LTE connectivity on its smartphone price plans — that is to say, whatever you're paying for 3G today will be the same you pay tomorrow, only with the delicious prospect of LTE thrown in. The internet-centric mobile carrier doesn't have any firmer details on when that tomorrow may come, other than to say "later this year." Here's CEO Dave Dyson's explanation for today's announcement:

Given how steep EE's LTE pricing has been so far, Three's promise to keep prices unchanged while upgrading its service dramatically is truly a mouthwatering one. Three is already consistently cheaper than the other major networks, and if it can indeed step up to LTE without adding anything to its subscribers' bills, today's decision should provide the catalyst for a long-overdue price war among UK carriers.

UK carrier Everything Everywhere is flipping the switch today on the country’s first LTE service, bringing high-speed mobile broadband to 11 cities (Southampton is going live a little early), with five more coming by the holidays. And it isn't stopping there. EE says it will be adding about 2,000 square miles (or two million people) per month, eventually covering 98 percent of the country by the end of 2014.

For those looking to take advantage of the faster speeds, six compatible phones went on sale earlier this month at Orange and T-Mobile stores: the Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S III LTE, Nokia Lumia 920 and 820, HTC One XL, and Huawei Ascend P1 LTE. The company also announced that it would be carrying the iPad mini earlier this week, but added the caveat that LTE availability is only available through select carriers.

EE has finally revealed tariff and handset pricing information for its LTE network, due to officially launch in the UK on October 30th. Those hoping for unlimited data will be disappointed, with the company instead opting for different data allowances depending on the monthly cost of your contract. All the tariffs come with unlimited calls and texts on a standard 24 month contract, with the following pricing options available:

EE will set the UK's first LTE service live on October 30th. The network will launch in 10 cities, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, and Bristol, but will expand its coverage to 16 cities — or a third of the UK's population — by the end of the year. The carrier says its service will be five times faster than "typical" 3G speeds.

In a press release announcing the date, EE namedrops the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S III LTE, Nokia Lumia 920 and 820, HTC One XL, and Huawei Ascend P1 LTE as "compatible" launch handsets. It's not immediately clear if all of the devices will be available at launch, as Nokia has previously indicated a November release date for the Lumia 920.

There's no LTE iPhone on the UK horizon just yet, but Everything Everywhere is proceeding with its planned rollout of the nation's first 4G network. Starting today, the company will rebrand itself, its network, and its consumer service to simply EE. It will combine Orange and T-Mobile's networks in the UK, however those older brands will persist and "stand alongside" EE in the future.

In simple terms, if you want 4G, you'll go with EE. Olaf Swantee, EE's CEO, introduced the new brand as "a simple, visible signal to our customers," replacing the clunkier Everything Everywhere label. EE will offer both 4G mobile connectivity and broadband fiber connections for home and business customers.

Today's been rather a momentous day in the UK mobile arena, following local regulator Ofcom's approval of Everything Everywhere's plans to use existing spectrum to roll out LTE service early. Vodafone, O2 and Three have complained in unison against the market distortions that would result from one carrier having 4G while everyone else waits for an oft-delayed auction, but their biggest fear may yet remain unspoken: a de facto exclusive on the next iPhone.

Come September 12th Apple is widely expected to announce its next generation iPhone, replete with LTE connectivity to match the 4G options available on its latest iPad. It doesn't seem like too much of a stretch to envision Apple providing at least one version of the next iPhone with 1800MHz LTE, which would satisfy the previously unserviced needs of mobile buyers in South Korea, Germany and, yes, the UK via Everything Everywhere (EE). And whether it's a coincidence or not, it does no harm that T-Mobile and Orange (the two brands whose union gave rise to Everything Everywhere as a company) will be free to start offering LTE to their customers on September 11th.

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has granted final approval for Everything Everywhere's proposed plan to roll out LTE service on its 1800MHz spectrum ahead of the proper UK 4G auction expected next year. The conglomerate, represented by the T-Mobile and Orange brands in the British market, was keen to seize the initiative by exploiting what resources it already had, which naturally incurred the wrath of direct competitors Vodafone, Three and O2 — none of whom was happy with the idea of losing the title of "first with LTE" before the requisite spectrum was even auctioned off.

Vodafone's reaction to today's news has been quite blunt, with a statement from the company expressing shock at the decision and its impending consequences:

The long-awaited 4G spectrum auction in the UK will get under way by the end of this year, according to the local regulatory body, Ofcom. Oft-delayed and extensively disputed in advance of even taking place, this auction is a major step toward bringing widespread LTE connectivity to the United Kingdom. Ofcom describes it as the biggest ever auction for mobile services spectrum in the country, noting that it'll add 250MHz to the currently used 333MHz of spectrum.

In recognition of the need for robust competition, Ofcom will reserve a portion of the available airwaves for a fourth wholesaler, believing that allowing the big three of Vodafone, Telefónica (O2), and Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile) to dominate the 4G market would be counter to consumers' best interests. Further provisos will be attached to the chunks of spectrum on auction, such as the obligation attached to one of the 800MHz lots to use it to connect 98 percent of the British population to a mobile broadband service by 2017.

The UK has seen constant delays when it comes to the rollout of 4G LTE networks and, according to the Minister for Culture, it's the mobile carriers that are to blame. While speaking at the Future of Entertainment summit in London, minister Ed Vaizey explained that constant legal threats from mobile carriers are the root cause of the ongoing delays. "Just about every mobile service provider has threatened to sue Ofcom if they get it wrong," Vaizey said. "If you want to look at the delay, don't look at Ofcom, don't look at the Government, ask your mobile service provider." The 800MHz spectrum auction that will clear the way for a full-scale rollout is scheduled for 2013, though that too may end up being delayed due to potential legal challenges.

UK regulator Ofcom has delayed its decision to approve Everything Everywhere's proposed LTE network in order to give competitors more time to respond following requests for additional time. While Ofcom initially granted the service preliminary approval earlier this month, it gave competitors until April 17th to respond with any issues. That date has now been pushed back to May 8th, giving the likes of Vodafone and O2 an additional three weeks to have their voices heard.

Vodafone has already publicly voiced its objection to Ofcom's preliminary approval, stating that the decision would give Everything Everywhere — which would operate under both the T-Mobile and Orange brands — "a significant head start before any of its competitors have a clear path to 4G." The original proposal would allow Everything Everywhere to use the 1800MHz spectrum, already used for 2G communication, for its LTE network, which could be available within a few months of approval.

British mobile carrier Three is set to announce a wider rollout of its HSPA 42.2Mbps network tomorrow in a move which could enable it to further delay the long-awaited LTE auction, according to The Guardian. Currently, Three operates an HSPA 21.1Mbps network in the majority of the country, but has previously claimed that it could reach the capacity of this system unless LTE spectrum becomes available soon. Upgrading its current network will remove this time pressure, and could give Three the option of raising a legal challenge if it feels that the rules of the spectrum auction are unfair.

The UK lags behind the US and many other European countries in the deployment of LTE, with the auction for spectrum licenses not set to happen until 2013 at the earliest. As the smallest of the UK's main networks with around 10 percent of market share, Three is concerned that it could lose out to O2, Vodafone, and Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile) in the 800MHz spectrum — a band it sees as crucial to maintain its competitiveness. Meanwhile, Everything Everywhere is forging ahead with an LTE network based on the 1800MHz band, and has plans to bid on the 800MHz spectrum when it becomes available.

Vodafone UK has spoken out against Ofcom's approval of Everything Everywhere's LTE proposals, telling TechWeek Europe that it is surprised by the decision. The company's head of external communications Richard Wray told the site that Vodafone "seriously doubts that consumers’ best interests will be served by giving one company a significant head start before any of its competitors have a clear path to 4G." Everything Everywhere — owner of both Orange and T-Mobile — cited Ofcom's decision yesterday as important in ensuring "that the UK does not get left behind in the building of a new infrastructure for the digital economy." And while Wray agrees, he also believes that "the full benefits will only be realised if there is more than one network that provides 4G services."

Ofcom's decision to allow the deployment of LTE on the 1800MHz band circumvents the need for the UK's largest operators (Vodafone, O2, and Everything Everywhere) to wait for a spectrum auction before rolling out LTE service, since all three own licenses for the band from its use in 2G networks. The regulator also said that it would welcome similar applications from Vodafone and O2's parent company Telefónica. This is worse news for Three, which only holds licenses for 3G bands and as such would be unable to employ the same license variation to develop its own service. Vodafone says that it is analysing Ofcom's reasoning for granting Everything Everywhere this variation, and will decide how to respond to the consultation in due course. We've contacted both O2 and Three for comment on the matter, and will update as soon as we hear back from them.

UK telecommunications authority Ofcom has granted preliminary approval for Britain's first commercial LTE network. Earlier today, Ofcom said that it would allow Everything Everywhere, a joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, to use the 1800MHz spectrum (which usually hosts 2G communications) for LTE and potentially WiMAX on Orange and T-Mobile's networks. Everything Everywhere announced last month that it would be testing its first 1800MHz LTE network in April following a successful trial on the 800MHz spectrum.

This announcement comes as other British carriers are still waiting for LTE spectrum of their own. Most of the 4G rollout is expected to take place on the 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum, which are currently being held for auction by the UK government. They're expected to be awarded in early 2013, but won't be available for use until late 2013 or early 2014. Everything Everywhere, meanwhile, could potentially make LTE available within a few months of approval.

Everything Everywhere, the joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, has announced it plans to launch 4G networks on its Orange and T-Mobile brands in the UK. Subject to Ofcom approval by the spring, the company says it is ready to roll out 4G in the UK this year.

Trials for the UK's first 4G LTE network over 1800MHz are due to take place in Bristol from April in preparation for a 2012 launch, following successful tests in Cornwall over the 800MHz cellular band. Everything Everywhere says the previous trials have demonstrated that 800MHz is optimal for the rollout of 4G LTE in rural areas and it will now test the new network on existing 1800MHz spectrum. The company also detailed its HSPA+ network upgrade status today. HSPA+ (3.5G) has reached around 60 percent of its network and is expected to be completed in Q3 2012.

O2 announced today that it's beginning a nine-month trial of LTE data service in London, the next phase in its rollout of the super-fast data network. The carrier says hundreds of customers will be given LTE modems, and they should see data speeds as high as 150Mbps (though presumably that's due to so few people crowding the network). It's a small test, and given recent history, not even an indication that LTE is coming soon — O2 began another similar test in the UK two years ago, and we've heard that the LTE rollout is being delayed thanks to infighting among the carriers over a spectrum auction. Still, a little LTE is better than no LTE, so if you're a Londoner hit the source to see how you can get some for yourself.