UK mobile network group EE has confirmed that its 4G customer base has reached 318,000 five months after launch (2.3% of the postpaid base), putting the company on track to meet its target of over one million 4G customers by end-2013. Over 1,600 medium and large companies are using the EE 4G network, with the network set to cover 70 percent of the UK population by end-2013. In Q1 2013, EE recorded post-paid mobile net additions of 166,000, compared to 151,000 in Q1 2012 (excluding MVNOs and M2M). This is the best Q1 postpaid net adds performance since the creation of the company, with 53 percent of mobile customers now on post-paid plans, up from 49 percent in Q1 2012. Pre-paid mobile customers decreased by 571,000 in Q1 2013.
Service revenue for Q1 2013 was GBP 1.42 billion, down 0.4 percent year-on-year. Including the impact of regulatory cuts, service revenue was down 5.4 percent. Postpaid mobile churn was 1.2 percent in Q1, with postpaid smartphone penetration up 11 percentage points year-on-year to 82 percent. EE ended Q1 with a total of 26.44 million customers, including 13.76 million postpaid mobile, 11.98 million prepaid mobile and 699,000 fixed-line customers, of which 694,000 were fixed broadband customers.
