UK operator EE has defended Apple’s policy of preventing mobile operators from offering the iPhone 5 as an LTE device until it has tested the performance of their LTE networks. The operator launched its 4G network in September 2012, with the iPhone available at launch as an LTE device.

The UK’s four mobile network operators have secured 4G spectrum, along with BT subsidiary Niche Spectrum Ventures.However, much of the discussion following regulator Ofcom’s announcement was around the revenue generated for the public purse. Just £2.34bn was raised; Chancellor George Osborne had hoped to secure £3.5bn from the auction.

The UK’s four mobile network operators and a subsidiary of fixed line incumbent BT have won LTE spectrum, regulator Ofcom has announced. But bidding was cautious, with the auction raising £2.34bn; £1bn less than the UK Treasury had hoped.

UK operator Vodafone has added its opted-in subscribers to advertising and commerce joint venture Weve, joining rivals EE and O2. With the addition of one million Vodafone subscriber details, Weve now has a database of more than 15 million UK subscribers.

UK operator EE, the Deutsche Telekom and France Télécom joint venture, has announced that a new MVNO will soon be running on its network. Phones 4u, an independent mobile retailer well-known on UK high streets, will launch LIFE Mobile in March.

Citing its previous infrastructure as being expensive to run and time consuming to maintain Orange Digital, which manages the online portals for EE, has moved to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The firm claims that by moving to Amazon’s cloud, it is better able to support spikes in traffic and capacity and reduce costs by £2m over a three-year period.

Everything Everywhere (“EE”), the newly-created UK operator owned by Orange and T-Mobile, had a blank sheet of paper to define how it positioned in the UK market with its upcoming LTE launch. This would no doubt have been a daunting if thrilling prospect, and obviously not without a reasonable probability for failure. Rather than radical change, what EE has done is hone-in on the core operator functions while rethinking how it can differentiate in the market with them.