EE signs up 900k 4G users in first 3 months of 2014

4G road sign

EE claims to have enjoyed its best quarter yet for signing up new 4G customers, with 889,000 users opting for its superfast services in Q1.

The mobile operator released its first quarter results earlier today, and confirmed that nearly 3 million people are now using its 4G services, as well as 5,100 medium and large businesses.

NEC, Fujitsu and Europcar are businesses that have signed up.

If the firm's current rate of customer sign-ups continues, EE said its customer base is on course to exceed six million by the end of the year.

Despite this uptick in 4G adoption, the firm's turnover was down 3.6 per cent on the same quarter at 1.5 billion. Meanwhile, operating revenue was also 1.7 per cent below what it was in Q1 2013 at 1.4 billion.

Even so Neal Milsom, chief financial officer at EE, said the results were in-line with the company's long-term growth plans.

"We are delivering strong, consistent commercial performance and continue to successfully create value through our award winning network," he said.

"We signed up nearly 900,000 4G customers in a single quarter, with over one in four new customers opting for EE's exclusive double-speed 4GEE Extra plans.

"In line with our vision to provide the best network and best service, we're also further improving customers service across all channels to support our long-term growth."

The publication of the firm's financial results comes days after it announced that its ongoing 4G rollout has now made the next generation network available to 200 UK towns and cities.

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.