EE said that its 4G rollout has now reached 50 per cent of the UK population, as it switched on its infrastructure in 13 additional towns and cities.

The company has now extended its coverage to 50 markets, with the intention of launching in an additional 30 by the end of June.

In a statement, Olaf Swantee, chief executive of EE, said that it is “working hard to deliver 4G to 70 per cent of the UK population by the end of this year, and 98 per cent of the population by the end of 2014”.

EE also said that as 4G is switched on in more towns and cities, its focus shifts to “increasing network density, ensuring the continued advancement of the service to increase speeds and further improve indoor coverage”.

Customers are seeing average speeds of more than 16Mbps and peak speeds of 50Mbps “on a frequent basis”, it said.

Mobile World Live spoke to Swantee at Mobile World Congress – watch the video here.