Everything Everywhere, the merger between Orange and T-Mobile, has announced it will be rebranding as ‘EE 4G UK’ in the run-up to the launch of 4G connectivity here in the UK.
EE 4G UK will be a separate brand entirely to the Orange and T-Mobile networks, and will specialise in 4G connectivity and 4G products. EE will be the first mobile network to offer the blazing-fast 4G speeds that we’ve seen the US and other countries enjoy for the last year or so, and says it aims to launch the service before Christmas this year.
The network will be offering both 4G connectivity over the air for smartphones, tablets and dongles, and a fixed line fibre broadband service for the home. The fixed line service is expected to deliver similar speeds to 4G for smartphones, which is around 78Mbps.
EE CEO Olaf Swantee has just confirmed the rebranding at an event, describing the new branding as “a simple, visible signal to our customers”. We’ve got to say, EE is far easier on the tongue than ‘Everything Everywhere’. For those still feeling confused, in the future if you want a superfast 4G smartphone then you’ll go to EE, but if you just want a regular phone or an upgrade on your current one, you can go to Orange or T-Mobile just like normal.
So where will you be able to use 4G in the UK? EE will be bringing speeds 5 times faster than 3G to the following cities in 2012: Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield and Southampton. More will follow in 2013, but for now that’s a third of the UK’s population, so EE tells us.
Seven devices that will make use of the new 4G speeds are expected to be shown off later today. We expect this to include a couple of smartphones and tablets, but mostly 4G USB dongles. Perhaps we’ll see the Nokia Lumia 920 4G that’s recently been rumoured.
UPDATE: Get the lowdown on EE’s seven new 4G LTE devices, including the Lumia 920 that we expected here!
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