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LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - British mobile phone operator EEsaid on Wednesday it would start doubling the speed of its 4Gnetwork in 12 cities in a bid to snap up more customers beforeits rivals launch competing offers later this year.
EE, owned by Orange and Deutsche Telekom, said it would lift the current average speedsavailable to customers to between 24 to 30 Mbps from Thursday,putting Britain on a par with South Korea in terms of mobilenetwork offerings.
The group will also run a promotion until the end ofSeptember, offering customers who sign up to a two-year contractboth double speed 4G and increased data allowances as it rampsup its competitive advantage over its rivals.
The joint venture gained a head start in the 4G race when itre-used existing airwaves to launch services. Its competitors,including Telefonica's O2 and Vodafone, willlaunch their own offerings later this year.
The group, which has signed up more than half a millioncustomers to its 4G network, also said it would start offeringits new shared 4GEE plans later this month, allowing customersto connect up to five separate devices to one 4GEE plan.
The offer of shared plans for customers who own numerousconnected devices such as laptops and tablets has proved hugelypopular in the United States, where it has increased customerloyalty.
"As the market leader in the UK, we will continue tomonetise network differentiation," Chief Executive Olaf Swanteetold reporters on Wednesday.
"When we exceed our 1 million 4G customers by the end ofthis year we will have proven that we can get an adoption thatis faster than other markets while maintaining a premium," hesaid, in reference to the amount customers have been willing topay for the faster connection.
