EE readies marketing drive ahead of regional 4G roll out
EE will ramp-up regional marketing activity as it prepares to roll out 4G mobile services to 27 new towns by the summer and build on its lead over competitors yet to launch such services.
The activity will mark the next phase of EE’s roll out of 4G services ,making it available to over half the UK population, by June this year following its initial launch of 4G in 16 cities last year.
Marketing activity will target the new towns set to be covered by EE’s 4G network spanning a number of areas throughout Britain, see list at bottom of page, continuing with its present strategy.
The timing of the second phase of EE’s roll out comes at approximately the same time as its competitors O2, Three and Vodafone are expected to begin launching similar services following the ongoing 4G spectrum auction.
EE, the UK’s largest operator with 27 million customers across all three brands, received permission from Ofcom to use surplus mobile spectrum it already owned to launch 4G services last year, effectively giving it a headstart of nearly 12 months over competitors.
The operator subsequently launched the EE brand and a multi-million pound integrated marketing campaign, featuring Hollywood star Kevin Bacon, to mark its introduction of 4G services in the UK.
It remains unclear how consumers are have signed up to the new services, although last week EE did report that it was piloting 4G services with multiple enterprise outfits including: Addison Lee, Foxtons and Sony Music.
Rival operators have taken aim at EE since the launch of its 4G services, with Three launching a campaign promising to roll out 4G services without asking customers for a premium “unlike some other UK operators.”
Meanwhile, Vodafone’s £4.5m ‘4G promise’ campaign prompted EE to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) asserting the campaign makes promises that Vodafone may not be able to keep.
The 27 new towns EE plans to cover by June are: Aldershot, Ashford, Basildon, Basingstoke, Blackpool, Bracknell, Camberley, Colchester, Crawley, Farnborough, Guildford, Horsham, Huddersfield, Leatherhead, Maidstone, Milton Keynes, Oldham, Oxford, Redhill, Reigate, Sevenoaks, Stevenage, Tonbridge, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Warrington, Wigan and Woking.
