Superfast 4G phones are now on sale in Britain for the first time.
Phone giants EE – formerly Orange – have become the first company to provide the service for both business and personal use.
The coverage will span UK 11 cities including London, Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham.
The launch has been hailed as a timely boost to the UK economy as it offers firms the opportunity to increase innovation, boost productivity and cut costs.
It has already been successfully trialled in countries such as the US, Sweden, Japan and Germany.
Olaf Swantee, CEO at EE, said: “Today is a landmark day for our company, the UK mobile industry and, most importantly, the country’s businesses and consumers.
“But this is just the start as our 4G network will continue to grow stronger and wider by the day.
”We’re investing £1.5 billion in our network to be the first company to offer mobile 4G in the UK, alongside the biggest 3G network.
”Combined with our Fibre Broadband and revolutionary service model we have a pioneering and unique offer to customers across the UK – superfast speeds in the home, superfast speeds on the move and expert service on nearly every high street in Britain.”
EE will sell around five handsets with the new speedy ‘superfast’ internet connection, including the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE.
The 4G network will be available in 11 cities at launch, and be rolled out to an increased 2,000 square miles every month.
EE have also launched their new Fibre Broadband which promise speeds typically ten times faster than current broadband.
The launch comes as new research reveals around three quarters of businesses (74 per cent) are planning to adopt 4G within 12 months.
The delivery of 4G and the company’s retail transformation has been underpinned by an intensive employee training programme as well as a comprehensive national IT infrastructure upgrade to ensure that EE customers receive expert service.
As well as London, Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham in its first phase, the 4G service is going live in Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton.
This means the service will be available in a further five cities before Christmas, with more cities and rural locations planned for 2013, and 98 per cent of the population due to be covered by the end of 2014.
On average, 4G mobile coverage will be made available to around two million people in Britain every single month between now and 2015, making this the fastest rollout of any UK network in history.
4GEE plans come with unlimited minutes and texts as well as revolutionary and exciting new services, including EE Film, Clone Phone and inclusive nationwide BT Wi-Fi.
