London,
18
August
2013
|
23:00
Europe/London

4GEE Transforming Britain into Nation of Nomadic Sharers, Streamers and Shoppers

New 4GEE Mobile Living Index provides snapshot of how superfast connectivity is changing daily life

  • One in four ultra-social Britons check social apps more than ten times a day on their 4G smartphone or tablet
  • Survey reveals Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the UK's favourite social media apps over 4G
  • People sharing videos and pictures, leading to network upload traffic overtaking download at key events
  • One in three streaming more video over 4G than they did using 3G, with BBC iPlayer, Netflix and Sky Go the favourite TV services
  • 71% shopping on their 4G smartphone or tablet, with men three times more likely than women to spend over £200 a month on their mobile.

London. 19 August – EE, the UK's most advanced digital communications company, today released the first-ever 4GEE Mobile Living Index, new research that combines statistics from EE's 4G mobile network with an in-depth survey of 4GEE customers. The 4GEE Mobile Living Index is the first of EE's snapshots of the nation’s mobile behaviour, providing detailed insight into how faster mobile internet speeds are changing our lives.

Pippa Dunn, Chief Marketing Officer, Consumer, EE said: "The way our 4GEE customers are using their mobiles and tablets has evolved significantly since we brought superfast 4G to the UK just ten months ago.

"EE’s introduction of 4G to Britain is giving customers new flexibility and independence. It lets them share more, stream more, and spend more while on the move.

"EE’s 4G coverage now reaches nearly 60% of the UK. We are entering a new digital era, the era of the 'always online' generation."

Fotis Karonis, Chief Technology Officer, EE said: "A large proportion of activity on our 3G network is web browsing. But on 4G customers enjoy traditionally fixed line activities such as shopping, watching movies and catching up with TV on their mobiles. It is a real evolution, with a quarter of our customers now spending more than three hours a day on the mobile internet.

"What is really interesting is that with 4G upload speeds five times faster than home broadband [1], we are seeing social media use becoming more mobile and transforming faster than had been imagined.

"For the first time in the UK, the amount of data uploaded onto our network has surpassed downloads at major events such as the London Marathon and Baroness Thatcher’s funeral. 4G users are intuitively taking advantage of increased upload speeds. We predict data volumes over social media sites will increase tenfold by 2015."

Other key findings from the 4GEE Mobile Living Index include:

4G Going Beyond Early Adopters

  • Whereas men were first to adopt 4G in the early months after its launch in the UK, women now make up nearly half of EE’s new 4G customers
  • 4G users on average are five years younger than 3G users.

Streaming Video Goes Mainstream and Creates a Second Screen

  • Video downloading, uploading and streaming makes up 26% of network traffic over 4G – with YouTube accounting for 14% alone
  • Half of all 4G customers (49%) own tablet devices alongside their smartphones 
  • Streaming peaks during morning commute, lunch, evening commute and especially throughout the evening. People are using 4G devices as second screens or switching to tablet devices in their downtime.
  • A wave of people streaming the Wimbledon Final resulted in the busiest day ever for EE's 4G network – 20% higher than ever before
  • People are streaming more over devices with big screens like the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which drive 60% more streaming of video data than smartphones.

4G Unleashes Britain

  • Two in three say they are using the mobile internet over 4G at least an hour a day, with 23% saying they are online via their 4G mobile devices more than three hours a day
  • Nearly 50% say they browse the web more on 4G than 3G, and over one in three say they download apps, use GPS services and access social media more with 4G than 3G
  • 43% say they use fewer or no public Wi-Fi hotspots since having 4G
  • 23% say they use their home broadband less since moving to 4G

For more information about EE please visit www.ee.co.uk/4gee

- ENDS -

Notes to Editors

[1] Based on over 22,000 speed tests of the EE network, carried out by Ookla. Ofcom research, published May 2013, found that the average upload speed for home broadband was 1.8Mbps: http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2013/08/07/average-uk-broadband-speed-continues-to-rise/

Findings are based on EE network data and an independent survey of 1,000 4GEE users by TNS.

For more information, please contact the EE press team on:

ee@nelsonbostock.com
0845 373 7070

About EE

EE is the largest and most advanced digital communications company in Britain, delivering mobile and fixed communications services to consumers, businesses, government and the wholesale market.

With more than 15,000 employees and 600 retail stores, EE serves more than 27 million customers on EE, Orange and T-Mobile mobile and broadband plans.

EE runs the UK's biggest and fastest mobile network, having introduced the UK's first and only superfast 4G mobile service in 2012. In July 2013 EE's 4G coverage reached nearly 60% of the UK population, with plans to cover 98% of the population by 2014. 2G and 3G coverage currently reaches more than 99% of the population. EE's superfast fibre broadband service covers 54% of the UK population, and ADSL broadband service covers 98.7% of the population.

EE has received extensive independent recognition including being ranked the UK's best overall network by RootMetrics®, and Best Network for Business at the 2013 Mobile Industry awards.

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