EE chief says Orange and T-Mobile 3G contracts are safe for now

The leader of the UK's biggest 4G network, Everything Everywhere, says the firm has no plans to stop offering 3G data contracts despite the explosion of next-gen speeds.
EE chief executive Olaf Swantee says the firm will continue to sell contracts and provide support for customers on its Orange and T-Mobile brands.
He said: You still have the Orange and T-Mobile products, but we are one company with one network. All our employees work for EE, and across our call centres, our retail store and our websites, we are EE.
"But we have millions of customers on Orange and T-Mobile accounts and we will continue to serve those and sell to them. We still see significant demand for Orange and T-Mobile products, but it's clear that 4G is growing, especially as more handsets are becoming 4G-enabled."

Dramatic uptake increase

The clarification from Swantee comes as EE once again saw a dramatic uptake of 4G contracts during the last three months.
The firm acquired another 889,000 customers between January and the end of March, taking the total 4G subscriber base to 2.9 million.
During that period, half of all new and renewing customers selected 4G contracts over the cheaper 3G alternative.
With the tech continuing to boost speeds and roll out to new towns and cities across the UK, that number is likely to grow further in the coming months.
EE assures current 3G subscribers that their service is safe for now, but how long will it be until those customers are ushered onto those more expensive monthly contracts?