OM4G: British Carrier EE Launches 300 Mbps 4G LTE Service In London's Tech City
by Joe White
November 5, 2013
Over in Britain, network provider Everything Everywhere (EE) has switched on the world's fastest 4G LTE network in London's Tech City area, offering users download speeds of up to 300 Mbps.
The network uses LTE-Advanced wireless technology, and select companies working in the Tech City area of East London, which include Google, Facebook, and Intel, have been invited to use the super fast 4G LTE network first.
EE explains that it's planning on making the 300 Mbps network available commercially from next year, once "compatible devices" launch from mid-2014 onwards. It's hoped that Apple's next-generation iPhone handset, be it the iPhone 6 or the iPhone Air, will be compatible with the LTE-A wireless standard.
Finally, EE predicted that in Britain, cellular data usage will rise by 750 percent over the next three years. Though of course, it looks like limited data plans will continue to grossly inhibit cellular data usage for most subscribers in the country.
Besides supporting smartphones and tablets, EE chief executive officer Olaf Swantee envisages that his company's super fast network will help the rise of 4K television sets, for example. In a press release, he said:
For consumers, the future of mobile is about connecting more devices, accessing more real-time information, and sharing higher definition images and videos. The emergence of wearable technology, for example, will continue to increase consumer usage of data across multiple connected products. In consumer entertainment, ultra high definition 4K TV is the future, and LTE-A makes it possible to support that on a mobile network. BBC iPlayer streams at 5Mbps, whereas 4K TV will stream at 20Mbps, so a consistently high average speed, enabled by sufficient capacity on the network, is essential.Of course, Apple has long been rumored to be developing its own Apple HDTV product, and some of the most recent reports have argued that a 4K television set, in particular, could be in the works. We'll keep you updated with further information as we receive it. In the meantime, for more news on EE be sure to check out the most recent edition of our AppAdvice International column. See also: Pebble Smart Watch Team To Announce Some "Big News" On Nov. 6 Via Live Stream, Surprise: iTunes Radio Doesn't Seem To Be A Pandora-Killer, After All, and Gameloft's Asphalt 8: Airborne Goes Free-To-Play As It Gets Its First Content Update.
