O2 to launch its own superfast 4G network across the UK on August 29th, with London and Leeds the first cities to benefit

Mobile operator O2 has announced it will launch its superfast 4G network in London, Leeds and Bradford on 29 August, in a bid to rival EE's current offering. 

A further 10 cities including Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, Sheffield, Manchester and Edinburgh will be connected by the end of the year. 

O2's 4G tariffs - which will be around five times faster than 3G - start at £26 a month and come with a 30-day guarantee and 12 months free music when bought direct from O2.

Mobile operator O2 has announced it will launch its superfast 4G network in London, Leeds and Bradford on 29 August. A further 10 cities including Liverpool and Newcastle will be connected by the end of the year. O2's tariffs will start at £26 a month and come with 12 months free music when bought direct from O2

THE ROLLOUT OF 4G IN THE UK

EE, which was formed from the merger of Orange and T-Mobile, was the first company to offer a 4G network in the UK. 
EE held the monopoly on the network because regulator Ofcom gave it permission to use existing spectrum (1800MHz) that it already owned.
Ofcom then held an auction for companies to bid to use other parts of the spectrum from 800MhZ to 2.6GHz
O2 purchased 800MHz lots and Vodafone won both 800MHz and 2.6GHz lots.
For the typical user, download speeds of initial 4G networks should be at least five to seven times faster than those of existing 3G networks.

In July, EE announced it was doubling its 4G speeds for people in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield.
The speed boost makes the network twice as fast as current average 4G speeds and 10 times as fast as 3G.

Vodafone, which is the third biggest operator in Britain, has said it will roll out a 4G service later this summer. 

EE launched Britain's first 4G services last October after the regulator allowed it to re-use its existing airwaves.

The service currently covers 95 cities and tariffs start at £15 for just internet data, or £21 a month for the voice calls and data package on a SIM-only package.

Take-up of EEs superfast services, which are priced 10-20 percent more than the equivalent 3G tariffs, reached 687,000 in July.

The company is targeting 1 million customers by the end of the year.

For the typical user, download speeds of initial 4G networks should be at least five to seven times faster than those of existing 3G networks.

O2 is launching a range of tariffs starting at £26 a month.

Each one comes with what's called a 30-day 'Happiness Guarantee' for customers who sign up direct from O2.

This means they will be able to cancel their contract or change it if they are not satisfied. 

Customers that buy direct 4G from O2 will also be given 12 months free music content.

All O2 customers will also be offered free 4G advice and guidance from an O2 Guru from launch, either in-store or online.

Further details on O2's 4G prices and rollout dates will be unveiled in the coming months.

EE held the monopoly on the network because regulator Ofcom gave it permission to use existing spectrum (1800MHz) that it already owned.