Telecoms providers: EE: Everything Everywhere... finally going somewhere?
EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, is a very recent addition to the landscape of UK’s telecommunications operators. Providing mobile phone services and internet connection services to both private customers and business customers, EE has known a complex history, with very recent developments making the brand change ownership.
About EE
Although the EE brand was created in 2009 only, its customer base and infrastructure were inherited from former major European players with a long presence in the UK.
From Everything everywhere to EE...
Everything Everywhere was created in 2009 and almost immediately, the new brand put its focus on the development of 4G networks. In fact, it announced that its name would change to the simpler EE acronym as early as Ofcom allowed to launch 4G services... and only 24 hours before Apple launched the iPhone 5, their first smartphone compatible with this new, faster mobile phone network. It was only later that the actual name of the company was changed to reflect this brand name change.
This company being the result of a merger between two companies with strong brand images, it took quite a bit of time for all products formerly launched by the former owners, including broadband products, switched to EE too.
... and from Orange and France Telecom to BT
This telecommunications provider is in fact the result of a merger between Orange UK and T-Mobile UK. While T-Mobile has been operating in the UK as a subsidiary of German Deutsche Telekom, the story of Orange UK is much more complicated. The Orange brand was in fact born in the UK as early as 1990, but was launched as a company in 1993 as a subsidiary of a Hong-Kong-based telecommunications provider. It then again was sold to France Telecom which in turn adopted Orange as its official name. Products using both T-Mobile and Orange brands were sold until 2015.
In January 2016, it was announced that EE had been taken over from Orange UK and T-Mobile by BT, the historical British telecommunications provider... with Orange UK and T-Mobile taking a minority share within BT.
EE product line
This brand is chiefly known for its mobile phone services, but also provides broadband services to both private customer and business customers - however, it does appear that B2B products may soon be sold only under the BT business brand.
Mobile phone plans
Business mobile plans currently sold under this brand include:
- a small business plan directed at businesses with up to 50 employees, with 25GB of data, unlimited UK calls and texts, plus 180 minutes to Europe and the USA, for £38 per month;
- bespoke plans for large businesses.
Internet plans
This provider also provides broadband plans for private and business customers.
- Standard plans allow up to 17Mb/s connection speeds and cost £10 per month and upwards depending on features,
- Fibre plans allow up to 38Mb/s connection speeds and cost £20 per month and upwards,
- Fibre plus plans can be as fast as 76Mb/s and cost at least £30 per month.
All plans also charge line rental fees of £15.75 per month.
