Consumers in 11 cities across the UK will be able to get their hands on 4G LTE products and services from today, heralding a new era for mobile phone usage in the country.

London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Southampton and Manchester are the chosen launch destinations for EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere.

The operator claims users of the new network will benefit from speeds up to five times faster than 3G will allow uninterrupted access to the web on the go, high definition movies to be downloaded in minutes, and TV to be streamed without buffering.

“Today is a landmark day for our company, the UK mobile industry and, most importantly, the country’s businesses and consumers," said CEO Olaf Swantee.

The company announced its pricing strategy last week, which revealed it is aiming to monetise 4G LTE by not offering all-you-can-eat data plans.

Belfast, Derby, Hull, Newcastle and Nottingham will have access to 4G by the end of the year, EE added.

Further, it said it plans to expand the service to further towns, cities and rural areas next year, with the aim of increasing its population coverage from 70 percent to 98 percent in 2014.

Rival operators including Vodafone, O2 owner Telefonica, and Three are currently not permitted to launch their own 4G services and products, following communications regulator Ofcom's auction process, which has allowed EE to be the sole UK provider of the superfast service until next year.

The operators, who were threatening legal action over the two-speed introduction, only made their peace and guaranteed the roll out could go ahead earlier this month.

In addition, EE has launched its fibre broadband service today, which is available to 11 million retail and enterprise customers.

A survey commissioned by EE revealed that 74 percent of UK businesses intend to adopt 4G within 12 months.

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