4G in the UK will start in only a 'small handful of cities' before it gets a wider rollout according to Everything Everywhere's Mat Sears who spoke to Dan Maudsley from the T3 Podcast.

The Head of Communications at Everything Everywhere admitted that 4G wouldn't instantly appear with new smartphones when it launched.

"We expect, certainly when we launch, we hope to be the first network out there but it will be a small number of cities, a small handful of cities likely or certainly areas, and we expect that to be dongle based."

"Generally tech like this when they launch whether it’s 3G or HSDPA+, the tech gets embedded into dongles first of all and then they move it onto handsets."

This comes following Ofcom’s ruling to allow operator Everything Everywhere – the owner of Orange and T-mobile – to recycle it’s older networks for the use of 4G.

When asked to comment on the outcries by Vodafone and O2 who believe that this gives an unfair advantage to Everything Everywhere Sears had this to say:

"This is something that has been mandated by the EU, that network operators around the country should be allowed to use their spectrum for whatever technology they see fit."

The regulator was initially considering if the move would distort competition, but has decided it will not and that it will in fact bring benefits to consumers.

‘Interested parties’ – by which we assume Ofcom means rival networks – have four weeks in which to submit their views on the move.  

Problems with UK 4G

As we understand a chief problem with the UK’s 4G network rollout is that there was a delay in auctioning off the frequencies that they will operate on. Recycling an existing 2G frequency, for instance, would appear to circumvent the problem.

For a full report on how the UK’s 4G plans are shaping up, and how it will relate to the new iPad, click here.

We were told 02 won’t be launching 4G until sometime in 2013, which would give the firm – which owns T-Mobile and Orange – a head start in this area.