Telecom Lead Europe: UK’s 4G service provider EE has tapped Gemalto to deliver its UpTeq LTE SIM and embedded software applications to power the LTE network.
The 4G / LTE service of EE, a joint venture between France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom in the UK, is live in 18 cities and towns across the UK. The company is planning to expand the network to additional 17 cities and towns by the end of March 2013. It is expected that 98 percent of U.K. population will be covered by the end of 2014.
Gemalto says this is the first large-scale LTE deployment in Europe.
Simon Frumkin, VP of Procurement and Supply Chain at EE, said: “Gemalto moreover demonstrated the technical expertise required to assist EE in defining its services precisely, and in implementing quickly the card software functionalities as well as the back-end applications.”
Gemalto’s UpTeq LTE plays a key role in helping EE meet the commercial and technical challenges of 4G. The software package included in the SIM card is compliant with industry standards, and embedded for EE in both Micro SIM Plus and nano SIM (4FF) formats.
Philippe Vrignaud, senior vice-president of telecommunications at Gemalto, said: “Through the support of Gemalto EE enjoys immediate access to all the knowledge and expertise acquired in our recent high profile deployments in Japan and the US. Gemalto UpTeq LTE front-end and back-end software technologies allows them to rapidly leverage the full potential of LTE networks.”
