The 4G tariff wars

4G has been the talk of the mobile industry for some time now, but the UK market has been slow to bring the faster connectivity to its citizens.

The first taste we got of the faster mobile data was in September last year, when Ofcom allowed EE to repurpose its existing spectrum to provide 4G across its network.

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But it took another five months before the regulator held its auction to distribute the spectrum made available from the digital television switchover. The winners were announced in February, but the waiting game began again as Three, Vodafone, O2, and surprise entrant to the market BT decided when to launch their services.

Both Vodafone and O2 have confirmed they will make their first forays into the 4G market on 29 August. Three is yet to announce its 4G launch date, although it has promised an offering during the fourth quarter of 2013. BT has confirmed it will just be using the spectrum to expand its wireless services, rather than to launch a mobile network.

Tariffs from the three biggest networks are now available for comparison.

Comparison and switching service uSwitch has put together a table of the 12-month SIM-only plans on offer from EE, Vodafone and O2 to enable those considering the move to 4G to compare prices, data limits and the added extras the operators are using to entice new customers. All of the tariffs include unlimited calls and texts.

Sky Sports 1&2 or Spotify Premium (for 6 months)O2 Tracks for 12 months; Priority Sports; Exclusive online gamingSky Sports 1&2 or Spotify Premium3GB (5GB for 12 months if sign up before 31.10.13)O2 Tracks for 12 months; Priority Sports; Exclusive online gamingSky Sports 1&2 OR Spotify Premium5GB (8GB for 12 months if sign up before 31.10.13)O2 Tracks for 12 months; Priority Sports; Exclusive online gaming
While EE is still providing the cheapest entry to the market, at £21 per month for 500MB, Vodafone is offering the most data at the cheapest price – £26 for 2GB, along with three months of unlimited data – compared with 1GB from both O2 and EE at the same price.

This pattern is repeated in the higher-cost tariffs, with the £31 price bracket seeing Vodafone offer 3GB compared with 2GB from O2 and EE, and the £36 step up seeing Vodafone offer 8GB compared with 5GB from O2 and EE.

However, O2 is offering 5GB or 8GB for the £31 and £36 tariffs respectively for a year if the customer signs up before 31 October 2013.

Also, with EE’s efforts to double the speed of its network this year, there is little doubt the debut player on the market will offer the quickest 4G data compared to its competitors.

None of the big three have announced unlimited data plans, but Three has promised to bring this into play when it launches 4G later in the year.

The question remains whether users even want 4G, with EE only managing to sign up 687,000 of its 28 million customers by the end of July and a recent survey from YouGov showing 33% of consumers could not see the point of 4G and 31% having no idea what the benefits were.

It seems it is still all to play for in the realms of 4G, and Computer Weekly is keen to hear your thoughts. Are you looking to upgrade? Do any of these plans entice you? Or are you going to wait to see where the market leads? Share your thoughts in the comments.


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O2 set for August 4G launch

Mobile operator O2 today confirmed its 4G network was set to go live on 29 August.

London, Leeds and Bradford will be the first locations to get the faster mobile speeds on launch day, but the company promised to hook up 10 more cities to the network by the end of 2013 – Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, Sheffield, Manchester and Edinburgh.

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O2 claimed the first phase would see up to five million people able to access 4G, while the continued roll-out plan will see an extra two million get the capability each month. Its overall goal is to provide 98% of the population with 2G, 3G and 4G coverage – an obligation it inherited from the spectrum auction earlier this year, with an imposed deadline of 2017.

“The full potential of 4G is as yet unexplored, but what we can be sure of is that it will allow for a whole new world of opportunity that people are now ready for,” said Ronan Dunne, CEO of Telefónica UK – O2’s parent company.

“Over half of our customers say they use more data than two years ago and even more use Wi-Fi wherever they go, to always stay connected. Given this trend, there is no doubt that 4G will transform our lives, be it as consumers, in business or through public sector services.”

Tariffs are set to start at £26 per month, although further details of O2 plans have yet to be revealed. The operator did promise there would be specific business tariffs for tablets and mobile broadband from launch though, along with mobile Wi-Fi in the coming weeks.

O2 4G map

With this launch, O2 becomes the second operator to offer 4G in the UK following EE’s launch in 2012.

Steven Hartley, telco strategy analyst at Ovum, welcomed the extra competition coming to the market but warned EE did have a distinct advantage still.

“In spite of the impending competition, it should be stressed that EE has a considerable LTE coverage (and therefore addressable market) lead and a particularly strong spectrum position relative to O2,” he said.

“This is readily apparent in the fact that O2’s launch includes only three cities from the outset.”

But Hartley still believed O2 would win over customers with its reputation.

“O2 has proven adept in the past at attracting customers in the fiercely competitive UK market,” he said. “Although details of O2’s LTE plans are lacking in today’s announcement, we like O2’s ‘30 day Happiness Guarantee’, in which dissatisfied customers can switch to a 3G plan if LTE fails to meet their needs.

“Getting LTE in the hands of users so that they can experience the benefits of the technology has been one of the key challenges for operators around the world and this approach allows hesitant customers to take the plunge.”

O2’s announcement comes the day after Ofcom confirmed all the spectrum auctioned off for 4G services had been cleared by Arqiva and Digital UK, so was now ready for its new purpose.