LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Britain's EE said 2 million customers had signed up to 4G, 14 months after itlaunched the country's first superfast mobile broadband serviceand just four months after it passed the 1 million milestone.
The company, a joint venture between France's Orange andDeutsche Telekom, said the sign-up rate was the fastest in theworld outside of South Korea.
Britain's telecoms regulator allowed EE to launch superfastmobile broadband ahead of its rivals by reusing its existingairwaves, a move which finally kick started 4G in the country.
Rival operators Telefonica's O2 and Vodafone started their own services in August last year after they boughtnew spectrum earlier in 2013.
Take-up of 4G is being driven by rocketing demand for mobiledata. EE said average data use across its network grew by 70percent last year, with social media and video driving thebiggest increases.
Chief Executive Olaf Swantee said EE was having particularsuccess in converting its existing subscribers to 4G, with abouttwo thirds coming from its Orange and T-Mobile brands.
Vodafone (VOD)