Mobile network and digital communications company EE is launching the world’s fastest 4G network in East London.
The innovation – which can reach speeds of 300Mbps – will be launched in Tech City, and will then be rolled out across London throughout 2014.
The speeds are enabled by carrier aggregation – bringing together 20MHz of 1800MHz spectrum, and 20MHz of 2.6GHz spectrum.
The EE selected user programme will launch using a CAT6 Huawei router – the first device of its kind in the world.
Companies in the East London area will be selected to become exclusive EE partners, enabling them to experience the service before it become commercially available.
It is expected that the first commercially available Mobile Wi-Fi units will be introduced by summer 2014, also by Huawei, with handsets to follow in the second half of the year.
EE CEO Olaf Swantee said: “Today we are introducing the next age of 4G mobile technology to the UK.
“Our existing 4G network delivers incredible mobile data speeds and covers millions of people across the country, but we never stand still. We know that mobile data usage is going to keep increasing, and rapidly so.
“Our analysts predict that data usage will grow significantly over the next three years. In fact, our trend-mapping shows that data usage is set to rise by 750 per cent in that period, as consumers and companies conduct more of their business and lives on-line.
“The network we’re switching on today in Tech City uses the spectrum that we acquired in the Ofcom spectrum auction earlier this year, and is the first part of an infrastructure that can meet the future demands of an increasingly data-hungry nation, enabling us to stay one-step ahead of the demand.”
EE was launched more than a year ago and already has 1.2million 4G customers, and a 4G network that covers 131 towns and cities – approximately 60 per cent of the population.