The largest mobile operator in the UK, EE in the next phase of its 4G network upgrade is rolling out three channel carrier aggregation of LTE-Advanced(LTE-A) feature, boosting internet performance for those with Cat 9 smartphones, which can achieve peak speeds of over 400Mbps.
The first phase of the 4G+ rollout that was started a year ago to support Cat 6 devices, EE has rolled out two carrier LTE-A to more than 150 UK towns and cities.
The high-speed network is already live in Wembley Stadium, and will be activated on sites in central London this year starting in east London’s Tech City, with further sites being enabled in the UK's busiest cities in 2016 including Birmingham and Manchester throughout 2017. The Operator targets to implement the upgrade across 500 sites by the end of 2017.
To enable world-leading speeds, EE combines 20MHz of 1800MHz spectrum with 35MHz of 2600MHz spectrum to create 55MHz of spectrum deployed for 4G services.
Cat 9 is the latest capability in new smartphones including the HTC M10, Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge and the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, when it is available. The lab-based maximum a Cat 9 device is 450Mbps, and the HTC M10 just achieved a real-world speed of over 360Mbps on the EE network at Wembley Stadium, claims EE.
Marc Allera, EE. CEO
With 4G+ now supporting Cat 9 devices, plus Wi-Fi Calling and 4G Calling, customers on EE will continue to get more from their new smartphone than on any other network in the UK.
