Mobile phone users in the UK will be able to access 4G services this month after crunch talks succeeded.

EE - the owner of Orange and T-Mobile - has been given the go-ahead by the regulator to start offering customers the latest development in super-fast broadband.

It quickly confirmed that it will launch 4G in 10 cities on 30 October, but is still to announce pricing details.

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said it was "tremendous news for consumers" who would have been left waiting "a considerable period" if a deal had not been struck.

There had been the risk of a delay as other operators were not impressed by EE getting the nod to launch 4G services ahead of them.

There was talk of a legal challenge from the likes of Telefonica, which owns O2, and Vodafone.

But after a summit between the operators and regulator Ofcom, things were smoothed over and the talks "dispelled any fears of litigation", the Government said.

Ofcom will give other firms rights to use airspace sooner than originally intended, meaning they will be able to give customers 4G by spring 2013, rather than the original date of October next year.

Richards said Ofcom had always wanted to free-up the bandwidth as soon as it could.

People in the capital, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol, Hull, Southampton and Derby will be among the first to get EE's 4G services.

Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast are also among the locations that should have the functionality by Christmas.

Once these cities are connected, about 20 million people could be surfing the net on the go via next generation networks. By 2014, EE says 98 percent of the population will have access to 4G.

More urban centres and rural areas will get on board over the next year, when coverage is planned to reach 70 percent.

Maria Miller, the UK culture secretary, thanked the mobile operators for working with ministers to get people onto the 4G network.

She said making it available quickly is an important element of the Coalition's plans to boost growth in the economy.