Included in the investment will be improved equipment, which the company claims will provide wider, faster and more reliable network coverage and will be easily upgraded to 4G when the spectrum becomes available. Large investments in mobile backhaul are also planned.
“We believe that the UK requires a 21st century infrastructure and are committed to rolling out 4G as soon as possible to support growing data use, connect parts of the country with little or no mobile broadband, and drive economic growth,” said Olaf Swantee, CEO of Everything Everywhere.
In the first half of 2012 the Everything Everywhere is planning to improve its cross-network signal sharing by enabling orange and T-Mobile devices to automatically select the stronger signal from either network. The company is also planning to streamline its network sites, which will go towards the company’s synergy savings target of £3.5 billion net present value by 2014.
Everything Everywhere partnered with BT in September to launch an LTE trial. The trial, which is taking place in the mostly rural Cornwall region, is claimed to have delivered satisfaction rates of over 90%.
The UK spectrum auction, due to take place next year, has been a source of frustration in the UK telecoms market, with legal disputes between mobile operators causing a major delay in the deployment of LTE technology.
