EE

In April 2012, the T-Mobile network in Northern Ireland was switched off, meaning that customers there roamed onto Orange. Later, most T-Mobile sites were turned back on as EE has a mast sharing agreement with 3.

2012 to 2014: Rebranding to EE

On 22 August 2012, Everything Everywhere announced that it would introduce a third brand as part of a future 4G launch to sit alongside T-Mobile and Orange, and that Everything Everywhere would continue as the company's legal name. Further speculation commenced on 7 September 2012 when the company announced details of a press conference on the morning of 11 September 2012, the earliest date set by Ofcom to launch 4G services. It was also noted that this date was only 24 hours earlier than the expected launch of the latest generation of iPhone (the iPhone 5), thereby arousing suspicion that the new iPhone would support 4G and that Everything Everywhere would launch its service on this widely anticipated handset. Other commentators suggested that the HTC One XL would be the first handset to launch utilising Everything Everywhere's 4G network. The handsets that the company initially launched on EE are the iPhone 5 (iOS), HTC One XL (Android), Samsung Galaxy S III (Android), Samsung Galaxy Note II (Android), Huawei Ascend P1 (Android), Nokia Lumia 920 (Windows Phone), Nokia Lumia 820 (Windows Phone). The company also announced that they would be using two 4G mobile broadband devices manufactured by Huawei - the E589 Mobile Wi-Fi device and E392 mobile broadband dongle.

On 11 September 2012, it was announced that the EE brand would be used to identify its network on all of the company's devices (EE, T-Mobile and Orange), alongside its 4G service and the company's fibre optic broadband roll-out. The brand was described by EE as The Super Fast Brand. It was also confirmed that all ex-T-Mobile and ex-Orange shops would be re-branded EE overnight, but mobile products would continue to be sold under those brands inside the stores. The company's legal name changed to EE Limited on 2 September 2013.

On 30 October 2012, it was announced that its Orange broadband service would be rebranded as EE, and the company would be launching a new fibre-optic broadband service, using a Bright Box router and Openreach GEA. The change took effect on 5 November 2012 through a firmware upgrade that replaced the Orange branding with EE on customers' router web interface. On 6 November 2012, it was announced that EE had exclusively partnered with mobile payments company iZettle. The agreement allowed EE to sell the company's mini debit/credit card readers which allow small business customers to make payments using their mobile phones. The devices initially went on sale in 297 EE stores and via EE's telesales channel.

In March 2014, EE began to phase out the T-Mobile and Orange brands in the UK, removing these products from their website and retail stores. However, these brands were still available via telesales and through third-party retail channels. The phase out was completed in March 2015, with new connections and upgrades only available on EE branded services.

2014 to present: Acquisition by BT

During 2014, Deutsche Telekom and Orange S.A. were reported to be considering options to sell EE or divest it through an initial public offering. On 15 December 2014, BT confirmed it had entered into exclusive talks to buy EE for £12.5 billion. On 5 February 2015, BT confirmed it would be acquiring EE for £12.5 billion; subject to regulatory approval, and received final unconditional approval by the Competition and Markets Authority on 15 January 2016. The deal was completed on 29 January 2016 with Deutsche Telekom now owning 12% of BT, while Orange owns 4%.

On 1 February 2016, BT announced that EE will become a new consumer division within the wider group, alongside BT Consumer. It will serve customers with mobile services, broadband and TV, and also continue to deliver the Emergency Services Network contract which was awarded to EE in late 2015. EE's business division was brought together with BT Business and the UK-focused operations of BT Global Services to form a new BT Business and Public Sector division with around £5bn of revenues. Another new division, BT Wholesale and Ventures, comprised the BT Wholesale division along with EE's MVNO business as well as some specialist businesses such as Fleet, Payphones and Directories. Gerry McQuade, currently Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Business at EE, will be its CEO.

On 28 July 2017, BT announced organisational changes to "simplify its operating model, strengthen accountabilities and accelerate its transformation" and involves bringing together its BT Consumer and EE divisions into a new unified BT Consumer division that will operate across three brands – BT, EE, and Plusnet. This took effect on 1 April 2018.

In July 2017, EE announced 100 store-within-a-store outlets by the end of 2019 via a partnership with Sainsbury's. This would create 400 jobs in Sainsbury's and Argos stores, and see the number of outlets reach close to 700, as part of its ambition to provide 95% of the population with access to an EE shop within 20 minutes' drive. In addition, pop-up shops and cabins would appear in shopping centres and other locations around the UK, and mobile EE shops in vans would serve customers in the most remote areas.

Network

EE owns and operates national 2G, 4G and 5G mobile phone networks in the UK.

On 22 June 2010, Everything Everywhere announced plans to roll out HD voice calling throughout its network by the end of summer. The technology was initially trialled on Orange's network in Bristol, Reading and Southampton, before it was expanded to the rest of the UK by the end of summer. Its request to use its surplus capacity to launch 4G services in the UK was approved by Ofcom on 21 August 2012. As part of Ofcom's approval of the company's roll-out of 4G, it was announced on 22 August 2012 that Hutchison 3G had acquired part of Everything Everywhere's 1,800 MHz spectrum.

EE's 4G network, along with its nationwide marketing campaign and store re-branding, was launched on 30 October 2012; it was the UK's first 4G mobile network, while other networks rolled out their 4G networks well into 2013. 4G coverage was initially "switched on" in 11 UK cities; London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, and Southampton. During the latter part of 2012 and 2013, the company added more cities and towns, and planned to boost speeds in some existing locations by Summer 2013. EE claims 2,000 square miles (5,200 km2) of 4G network would be added every month from launch and the goal was to cover 70 per cent of the population by the end of 2013, and 90 per cent by the end of 2014.

EE had early problems and issues of no signal across both its 3G and 4G networks with senior EE staff conceding they were facing 'teething problems'. On 20 February 2013, Ofcom announced that EE had been awarded more 4G spectrum in the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands, bidding around £588 million for the spectrum. On 5 November 2013, EE began testing LTE Advanced (LTE-A) in East London Tech City. The LTE-A network offered speeds up to 300 Mbit/s when rolled out to the public in 2014. EE's LTE-Advanced was launched at the end of October 2014.

On 12 February 2016, EE announced that it had reached its 2015 targets to double the number of 4G users on its network to 14 million at the year's end and remains as Europe's largest 4G operator. Its 4G network now reaches more than 95% of the UK population, with double speed 4G reaching 80%. EE's 3G network reaches 98% of the population while its 2G network reaches 99%. On 24 April 2016, it was announced that as part of a new strategy, EE are aiming to extend the geographic reach of its 4G network in the UK from the current 60% to 95% by 2020, which will increase the proportion of the UK's population covered by the 4G network from 95% to 99.8%. In order to achieve this, EE will build more than 750 new sites. Its 4G network was switched on in Shetland and the Isles of Scilly, enabled by the fibre broadband links deployed by BT. Its 4G network at launch was only used for data connections, with customers moving to 3G while on a call, however EE have rolled out 4G Calling (VoLTE) across the UK to allow both voice and data over 4G as well as allowing customers to make calls in new areas of the network that are 4G-only. 4G Calling was first available in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Leeds and Newcastle, and has been switched on across the rest of the network since July 2016.

On 13 September 2017, it was announced that EE are upgrading its 4G network by converting airwaves from 2G to 4G. It currently uses frequencies in the 1,800 MHz band for both 2G and 4G (its other bands are reserved solely for 3G/4G) and is converting – or 'refarming' 10 MHz of the 2G airwaves and adding that to the existing 20 MHz slice that's already configured for 4G. More than 600 sites across cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff, will be upgraded with the latest 4G spectrum over the next six months, equipped with 'Cat 12' and 'Cat 16' modems which will provide better speeds and coverage and support next generation 'CAT 12' and 'CAT 16' smartphones. The data upload speeds will also be doubled from the current maximum of 50 Mbit/s to up to 100 Mbit/s on more than 900 sites across the UK. It is also expanding its UK-wide 4G+ with more than 1,000 sites supporting 'Cat 9' speeds above 400 Mbit/s. The geographic reach of its 4G network is now 85%.

On 19 March 2018, it was announced that EE had filled 12,000 km2 (4,600 square miles) of mobile not-spots in the last 12 months as part of its 4G geographic reach strategy of 95% by 2020, currently 90%. This involved upgrading more than 4,000 existing sites to provide 4G, and the construction of 105 new sites which are spread across Northern England, North Wales and Scotland and is in the process of building a further 350 new sites to continue filling in mobile not-spots. Many of these new sites are in areas that have previously had no coverage from any operator and have already carried more than 200 emergency 999 calls where people would have previously been unable to call for help. The new sites are being built to provide coverage for EE's customers and for the Emergency Services Network. The geographic reach of its 4G network in Scotland surpassed 75% at the end of 2017.

On 11 September 2018, it was announced that EE are upgrading its 4G network by converting airwaves from 3G to 4G. It currently uses frequencies in the 2,100 MHz band for 3G and is converting – or 'refarming' it for 4G. More than 500 sites will be upgraded in the next six months and are the busiest 'hotspots' in its network where there is the greatest demand for mobile data. These sites are spread across cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, Hull, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast. In addition to providing better speeds and reliability, these sites will provide five 'carriers' of 4G which is more than any other UK operator and accommodate the latest smartphones which can support connections to all five at the same time, with Five Carrier Aggregation (5 CA). It also lays the foundation for its 5G network that will be launched in 2019 where it will be built on top of the upgraded sites.

EE completed the switch-off of its 3G network in February 2024.

Smart number technology

On 11 June 2018, EE became the first UK network to launch smart number technology, allowing customers to use the same number across multiple devices in addition to their smartphones including tablets, smartwatches and laptops. It is available at no extra cost to new and existing customers and is part of its strategy to "keep customers connected by bringing together the best of mobile and broadband through first-of-their-kind converged services across the UK". It supports calls and texts across multiple devices and works even when they do not have their smartphone with them. It supports up to 5 other connected devices and will need to be internet connected via Wi-Fi or mobile, with the primary device being connected to the EE network for the service to work. Calls can be made on multiple devices at the same time, or handed off between devices.

It is available initially on Apple devices, with Android devices coming at a later date. Customers will need to be on an EE pay monthly plan on their smartphone with minimum iOS 11.3 on iPhone 6 or later. Paired iPads and Macs will need to be on minimum iOS 10 and OS X El Capitan respectively, iPod Touch with minimum iOS 10 and Apple Watch with minimum watchOS 2. EE is also the only UK network to support the full connected capability of the Apple Watch Series 3.

In December 2024, EE switched off Smart Number for its users, stating that iCloud calling and watch functionality wouldn't be affected by this change.

Virtual network agreements

The Co-operative Mobile operate on the EE network under a MVNO agreement, which was most recently renegotiated in December 2010 for Virgin, and November 2013 for Asda (which had previously operated on the Vodafone network, however the agreement ended in March 2021 where ASDA Mobile returned to using the Vodafone network).

BT Mobile and EE also have an MVNO agreement, which has allowed BT Mobile to offer packages since March 2014.

EE purchased LIFE Mobile in October 2014, a MVNO set up by Phones 4u in 2013 from PWC.

Mobile Broadband Network Limited

On 3 September 2010, Everything Everywhere announced that Orange would join Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL), the 3G network sharing joint venture formed in December 2007 between T-Mobile UK and Hutchison 3G UK (H3G UK). MBNL would become a 50:50 joint venture between Everything Everywhere and Three UK, with Orange contributing several thousand of its base stations for network sharing purposes. MBNL was created after T-Mobile and Three UK agreed to pool their respective 3G infrastructures in a 50:50 joint venture. By September 2010 MBNL's HSPA-based infrastructure covered more than 90% of the British population, and was expected to rise to more than 98% by the end of 2010.

Broadband

EE inherited the Orange UK broadband service, and as of April 2015 EE had around 900,000 broadband customers.

Television

EE launched a TV service for broadband customers in November 2014. Using an EE-branded set-top box, it offered standard Freeview channels through an aerial connection along with PVR features and catch-up TV services, competing against YouView. In June 2019, the service was replaced with a new package using an Apple TV box, which also gives access to BT Sport.

Marketing

EE launched its first television advertisement on 3 November 2012, four days after the company launched its 4G services and new brand. The advertisements featured Kevin Bacon and his related Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon concept. The advert initially aired on ITV during The X Factor, on its Saturday evening slot on UK television. The adverts were filmed over two days during August 2012 in Lewes.

Sponsorships

EE began sponsoring the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards in 2013, replacing its Orange brand.

A six-year agreement to sponsor Wembley Stadium was agreed with The Football Association in February 2014, although was not classed as a naming rights agreement.

EE had a presence at the Glastonbury Festival 2015, providing reusable chargers for mobile phone users. The "Power Bars" could be exchanged once a day, for a fully charged charger, at two locations around the festival.

Later that month, EE blocked and removed a website after text messages claiming to be from EE were sent to customers offering 40 per cent off their monthly bills in celebration of the Royal Wedding. Customers took to social media to complain of the texts. The scam messages contained a link to a fake EE website, encouraging them to enter their personal details and card number. EE advised any customers who receive any messages to not click on any of the links, and delete the messages after forwarding them to 7726, Ofcom's anti-spam service.

In June 2021, EE was the first company to re-introduce roaming charges for its customers in the EU, after Brexit meant that EU roaming regulations no longer applied. A £2 daily fee will be charged to be able to use data/call/text allowances in EU destinations.

Loyalty penalty claim

In November 2025, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) approved a class action claim in the UK from consumer rights expert Justin Gutmann to take mobile network operators to court, including EE. The claim alleges that they were charging long standing customers for their mobile phones beyond their contractual terms. Gutmann is representing 10.9 million contracts that were affected between 1 October 2015 and 31 March 2025. The claim (if successful) could see EE, alongside other operators, paying over £1.1 billion in damages (£104 per contract). A significant amount of the claim was struck out, due to how long ago this occurred. The claim follows Citizens Advice complaining to the Competition and Markets Authority in September 2018. Mobile networks, including EE, deny any wrongdoing.