Vodafone waiting for new iPhone to launch 4G

Vodafone’s 4G network won’t arrive until August or September – possibly to coincide with the launch of the next iPhone.

After picking up spectrum in Ofcom’s auction earlier this year, Vodafone had been expected to launch its 4G network in June.

However, sources at Vodafone told The Telegraph that the company is waiting for the next iPhone arrive to before making the next-generation network available – a view echoed by CEO Vittorio Colao. “End of the summer means when there’s going to be a good commercial moment for launching 4G,” Colao told the newspaper.

“EE had a little bit of an advantage because of the iPhone at 1,800MHz [EE’s 4G frequency],” he added. “To be honest that will go away as soon as we launch our 4G actually.”

EE has had a monopoly on 4G since the end of last year, when it used spectrum it already owned to offer faster networks. The major operators all picked up spectrum in Ofcom’s auction, but have yet to roll out services.

Vodafone joins Three in waiting to offer 4G, with the smaller rival saying it was in “no rush”. O2 looks set to be the next operator to roll out 4G, after signing a deal with BT, but hasn’t yet revealed a launch date.