LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - British mobile phone operator EEsaid it would offer superfast broadband on pay-as-you-go andshared pricing plans in a bid to win more customers beforerivals launch competing 4G services.
The company, a joint venture between France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, started to roll out 4G in majorcities in October, backed by an advertising campaign fronted byactor Kevin Bacon.
The service, which initially offered speeds about 5-7 timesfaster than 3G, was available to subscribers signing contractscosting 10-20 percent more than an equivalent 3G connection.
EE said on Thursday that the new tariffs would allowcustomers to share a pricing plan across phone and tablets, orwith other people, while the pay-as-you-go plan will allowcustomers to access 4G on tablets and laptops without making along-term commitment.
The joint venture gained a head start in the 4G race when itre-used existing airwaves to launch services. Its rivals,including Telefonica's O2 and Vodafone, willlaunch their own offerings later this year.
It said on Thursday that customer take up had passed half amillion, up from about 300,000 in April. The group, which leadsthe British market, aims to have 1 million customers on 4G byChristmas.
The group, which said it would have rolled out 4G to cover55 percent of the British population by the end of June, is alsodoubling 4G speeds in 10 cities within the next few weeks to anaverage of 24-30 Mbps.