Telecom Lead Europe: EE has posted 0.4 percent drop in service revenue to £1,422 million in the first quarter of 2013.
This is despite the biggest operator in the U.K. adding 318,000 customers to its new superfast 4G service.
EE Chief Executive Olaf Swantee said: “We have said that by Christmas EE will have 1 million 4G customers. And we can announce that we are well on track versus that plan. We have had a strong uptake.”
EE, a joint venture by France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, said over 1,600 medium and large companies are using 4G / LTE.
Ovum estimates that LTE now accounts for 1.2 percent of EE’s total customer base.
EE’s postpaid smartphone penetration rose 11 percent to 82 percent. Its non-messaging data revenue increased to 36 percent of ARPU from 27 percent in Q1 2012. EE’s non-voice revenue (data and messaging) rose to 51 percent of ARPU from 45 percent in Q1 2012.
The 4G operator continued network optimization program, removing redundant sites while simultaneously supporting the rollout of 4G services. In the quarter it decommissioned 548 redundant sites, bringing the total number to 3,207 since the program began.
Data revenue increased, with non-messaging data revenue up 9 percent to 36 percent of ARPU. Non-voice revenue (data and messaging) is up 6 percent to 51 percent of ARPU.
Emeka Obiodu, principal telco strategy analyst at Ovum, said: “The news about EE’s LTE subscriber base is encouraging. EE has now signed up 318,000 LTE subscribers after just five months, and says it is now firmly on track to sign up 1 million LTE customers by the end of 2013. Also, EE says it has over 1,600 medium and large companies using LTE, giving it an important position in the battle for business customers.”
Having paid £589 million for 2x5MHz of 800MHz and 2x35MHz of 2.6GHz spectrum, EE says it now holds an ‘industry-leading 36 percent share of UK mobile spectrum’.
