Everything Everywhere reveals business focus of 4G trials

Everything Everywhere has revealed more details on its 4G trials in Cumbria and Bristol, explaining that it is using the tests to help understand the end-user experience the network will provide, particularly for business use.

Speaking to V3 the firm's head of network strategy, David Salam, explained that the Cumbria trial, first announced in May, was focusing on the use of 4G services to provide firms in remote regions with solid internet access.

"We're slowly signing up customers and it's taking quite a different focus to Cornwall which was much more consumer lead. We are looking more at businesses and providing broadband services, with speeds at around 6Mbit/s at the moment," he said.

"We are looking to enhance the speed and quality of the trial and will have some initial results in the future."

Rural locations are widely regarded as having an urgent need for 4G services, with Cumbrian MP Rory Stewart campaigning successfully for Ofcom to increase the coverage obligations placed on firms that win 4G spectrum from 95 to 98 per cent earlier this year.

Salam said he agreed these obligation were important for operators to ensure the benefits of 4G would be seen by everyone in the UK, not just those in major cities, especially considering the business benefits LTE networks will offer.

"The networks are not only faster but there's far more consistency in receiving higher data rates, regardless of how many people are on the network and regardless of position, in relation to in-building coverage, for example," he said.

"Because the responsiveness is far quicker it's much more ‘real-time', so it's a really strong enabler of mobile working and cloud technologies."

He added this could be particularly useful for video services by ensuring their stability and could also help usher in a new era of smart cities technology.