EE boss Olaf Swantee used an event in London aimed at UK business to set itself the ambitious target of creating a network that “fundamentally has no defects.”

Admitting to a bold statement, Swantee justified it by saying that “to be different in the market, we need to set a new threshold.”

“We built a network in 12 months, something that had never happened before,” he said, referring to EE’s 4G rollout. The trick is to have a  “clear goal in mind that gets everyone excited, in order to achieve it even half way.”

The UK has challenges, one being its varied geography, as well as regulations, he explained.

“The telecoms industry gets its regulation from three sources: Ofcom, Europe and the government, and this is an issue,” he commented.

On the other hand, OTT players are not as regulated. They work under the radar. “This creates an unfair playing field,” according to Swantee.

He believes the UK has competitive pricing compared to many countries and to regulate only on the basis of reducing prices is taking a toll on the industry.

It is also why the UK, once a leader in the industry, has been left behind by countries like China and the US.

Working hard with engineers to consistently reduce faults is a way to improve network reliability, as is partnering with the government to get faster access to sites, he said.

EE is also trying not just to get faster speeds but also to reduce dropped calls.

According to Swantee, it was once completely acceptable among engineers to have a 1 per cent drop call rate, but actually this translates into millions of calls per month. Hence the motivation at EE to improve the figure, which is now 0.4 per cent.

Digital economy driving need for better network
Swantee was joined on stage by Tech City CEO Gerard Grech, who claimed it is “very exciting” that the country’s largest operator is working to help businesses.

In the last quarter, the UK attracted one-third of venture capital money invested in European tech firms, with £3 billion already invested this year overall, Grech added.

Swantee agreed that the competitiveness of nations depends on their digital infrastructure, particularly in a services driven economy like the UK.

He pointed out that there has been a sixfold growth in data used by businesses, compared with a fourfold growth in data demand coming from consumers, a figure he did not expect.

He explained that many UK companies are either mobile only (such as Kabbee) or trying to become mobile-centric (such as Photobox) and “are dependent on mobility, driving the need for a fantastic network that delivers.”

Swantee mentioned speaking to Uber recently, a taxi hailing app maker with 22,000 cars in the UK, which said it had very specific latency requirements if it was to derive revenue and not lose customers.

The public sector also has sophisticated requirements and wants in-car solutions in ambulances and police cars which will turn them into high speed hotspots, an area that EE is seeking to address.

EE itself as a business could benefit from faster speeds, Swantee said. Currently, it is able to decrease its cost of installations by asking its engineers to send their managers videos of their work instantly.

Another reason for needing higher speeds and a better network is to be able to support self-drving cars, the Internet of Things and virtual reality.

A criticism raised against EE was that its packages for smaller businesses aren’t as flexible and competitive as those for larger firms. The operator said it would work towards improving this.