EE Widens its Range of 4G Price Plans

EE has introduced new price plans for its 4G network, intended to address some of the criticisms its current tariffs have faced.

First up is a cheaper 'entry-level' plan, costing £31 per month on a 24-month plan including a handset, £5 cheaper than the cheapest option previously. The package appears to be exactly the same, with EE presenting as a limited-time promotion, available for new customers signing up 31 January–31 March.

On the other end of the spectrum is the 'super user' tariff, which offers a mobile data limit of 20GB, priced at £46 on a 12-month SIM-only price plan, or at £61 on a 24-month plan with a handset.

EE says the introduction of this tariff is a result of listening to its customers' needs, and specifically of the one per cent of 'super users' who need higher data allowance. It seems to be tackling head-on any criticisms that the rather meagre data allowances of EE's tariffs, which previously maxed out at 8GB, rather defeated the point of having super-fast mobile data in the first place. 

These new tariffs come ahead of the 4G auction, which will widen the number of UK operators which can offer the super-fast connections which are currently exclusively available through EE.

According to Ovum telecoms regulation analyst Matthew Howett, the timing is no coincidence:

“EE’s decision to offer both a relatively lower-priced tariff at the entry level and a plan with more data at the top end is clearly in response to customer feedback,” says Howett. “More importantly though, it is a  preemptive strike aimed at  its competitors who are soon to launch tariffs of their own once the long-overdue auction of 4G licences is completed.

“EE was always going to have a difficult role to play being the first mover. However, its peers may be grateful for attempting to move away from an all-you-can-eat world for data to an attempt to monetise it. Offering a more generous – but still capped – data allowance for ‘super-users’ is still consistent with that pragmatic move.”