Hitting the IT news headlines today is Everything Everywhere (EE), the love child of T-Mobile and Orange, who gained a head start over its rivals in the race to introduce widespread 4G (LTE) mobile services in the UK. The company now looks set to extend the lead even further whilst the other operators can only stand and watch.

4G takes hold in the UK

Initially introduced in just 11 key towns and cities across the United Kingdom 4G, from EE, has been applauded, in the it news and consumer press, technically but criticised for its potentially high cost structure. However, when you consider the advantages of mobile internet through 4G (especially in areas where fixed lined Broadband is still a major issue) the costs are manageable.

At one time WiMAX looked set to lead the roll-out of faster mobile internet speeds but, according to Ofcom, LTE (Long Term Evolution)  offered technical standards that “make efficient use of radio spectrum, and so are ideally suited for high bandwidth data services.” and EE were placed to take advantage of, and seek early permission, to utilise the 1800 MHz range.

Superfast 4G mobile is approximately five times faster than 3G

To access 4G you need a 4G enabled device and the currently supported smartphones (in no particular order) are the Nokia Lumia 920, HTC One XL, Huawei Ascend P1 LTE, Huawei E589 Mobile WiFi, and the Apple iPhone 5.

More 4G Locations To Be Activated

Since the launch, EE added 7 additional 4G enabled locations, taking the currently supported number to 18 for 2012 (the original plan was 16 according to EE – which pushes them ahead of schedule). Today, EE have announced plans to add 17 more towns and cities across the UK by March 2013, these are: Chelmsford, Coventry, Doncaster, Dudley, Leicester, Luton, Newport, Reading, Rotherham, St Albans, Sunderland, Sutton Coldfield, Walsall, Watford, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

To check your coverage head over to the EE website.