You might be aware that over here in the United Kingdom we seems to be somewhat behind in the 4G LTE stakes, however the joint venture between T-mobile and Orange, Everything Everywhere has been trying to get the jump on rival carriers and roll out a 4G LTE network in the UK, and asked the UK regulator, Ofcom if it was okay to do so. Well it appears that Ofcom have now given Everything Everywhere the go ahead.
According to a report over on Crackberry by way of Cnet, Everything Everywhere could start rolling out their 4G LTE network as soon as the 11th of next month whilst other rival UK carriers such as Vodafone, O2 and Three will have to wait until next year.
The UK regulator has allowed Everything Everywhere to gain that head start due to using its 1800MHz spectrum, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean customers will be able to surf the faster network next month, mainly due to the United Kingdom not having any devices that can play nice on 4G.
However as Everything Everywhere could be rolling out that 4G LTE network roundabout the same time as the expected release of the new iPhone, and what with the speculation that the iPhone 5 just might be LTE capable, the UK could soon see its first LTE handset able to play on that nice new 4G LTE network, although that is pure speculation as no one really knows whether the iPhone 5 will be an LTE handset or not.
Even so, if the iPhone 5 appears without LTE functionality, there is always the upcoming BlackBerry 10 handsets to consider, so it is possible that a BlackBerry 10 handset could be the first LTE enabled smartphone to use Everything Everywhere’s 4G network.
Naturally rival UK carriers aren’t too pleased that Everything Everywhere has got the jump on them when it comes to 4G, but apparently Ofcom decided to give the company the green light because they feel the benefits to customers will outweigh concerns over competition.
So there you have it, the United Kingdom will soon have their first 4G LTE network up and running, so do our readers think the iPhone 5 being the first LTE smartphone in the UK, or do you believe BlackBerry 10 handsets will have that honour?