In collaboration with China-based Huawei, EE announced today that it will introduce LTE-Advanced technology—capable of theoretical peak speeds of up to 300 Mbps—to London’s “Tech City.”
Revealed at the Huawei Global Mobile Broadband Forum, the deployment follows EE’s and Huawei’s analysis of consumer and business data trends, which forecast a significant rise in mobile data consumption over the coming years.
EE CEO Olaf Swantee said: “Today we are introducing the next age of 4G mobile technology to the UK. Our existing 4G network delivers excellent mobile data speeds and covers millions of people across the country, but we never stand still.”
He added: “We know that mobile data usage is going to keep increasing, and rapidly so.”
The initial launch targets selected companies within the Tech City area—often referred to as “Silicon Roundabout”—with plans to expand gradually across the UK. From December, these organisations will become “EE partners,” allowing them to trial the service ahead of commercial availability.
Most modern devices support LTE, but only specific, specialised versions of some models can exploit LTE-Advanced today. For example, a specialised variant of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 has supported the Advanced network in South Korea.
Huawei will introduce LTE-Advanced Mobile Wi‑Fi units in the second quarter of 2014 to leverage the higher theoretical throughput offered by LTE-A.
With LTE still rolling out outside EE’s network, the practical necessity of higher peak speeds is a valid question. Olaf Swantee argued that increased network capacity enables new workflows for broadcasters and media companies: a handful of 4G SIMs can replace an entire satellite truck and the rental of a satellite link for outside broadcasts.
He also pointed to future video services: “4K TV is the future, and LTE-A makes it possible to support that on a mobile network. BBC iPlayer streams at around 5 Mbps, whereas 4K TV will require roughly 20 Mbps, so consistent high average speeds and sufficient capacity on the network are essential.”
At the time of writing, EE’s 4G network covers 30 of the UK’s 69 cities, reaching more than 60% of the population.
Other UK operators are expanding their 4G coverage as well. O2 planned initial rollouts in London, Leeds and Bradford, with additional cities such as Birmingham, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leicester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield scheduled by the end of the year.
Vodafone’s early launches focused on London initially, followed by Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield.
Three’s 4G coverage was in its early stages, aiming to cover Birmingham, London, Manchester and Reading by the end of 2013, along with Oldham, Dudley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton, and to add 42 more cities during 2014.
EE’s LTE-Advanced trials in Tech City demonstrate the operator’s push to prepare networks for heavier data demand and higher-quality mobile video. The initiative will give local businesses early access to emerging capabilities while informing broader rollouts across the UK.
What do you think of EE’s LTE-Advanced testing? Does it show promise for future mobile services?