EE has selected fewer than 20 dealers to sell its 4G services when they become available later this monthFewer than 20 of EE’s 350 Orange and T-Mobile B2B dealers will be able to sell its 4G services when they are officially launched on October 30, Mobile News understands.
EE refused to discuss the numbers, or its reasons for restricting the service to a limited number of resellers, as Mobile News went to press.
EE’s 4G services will be available in 10 cities at launch with an additional six cities to be added before the end of the year.
Agreements are understood to have been made based on dealers’ performances as well as their location and customer reach in selected cities.
B2B dealers understood to have been selected at launch include Scancom (Leicester), Halstone (Newcastle-under-Lyme), Westcom (Bristol) and Abica (Glasgow), and ex-Vodafone platinum partner Fenchurch Communications (London).
Around 10 of EE’s consumer-focused retailers will also be selling 4G services at launch, including Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4U and Fonehouse.
Orange and T-Mobile distributors Avenir, Carphone Warehouse Business, Midland, Mainline and Daisy Distribution have all agreed airtime deals for the new EE 4G tariffs.
EE held an event at the Birmingham NEC all last week for around 15,000 EE staff and partners to discuss the firm’s plans. All selected dealers have now been trained to sell the new tariffs, which have yet to be made public.
Each of EE’s 700 retail stores is expected to be rebranded before the company’s 4G service goes live.