Three UK has announced that it plans to offer LTE services as a standard feature on all its smartphone price plans. Operator will launch LTE network later this year and will make LTE available across all existing and new price plans without customers needing to pay a premium fee to ‘upgrade’.

Three’s network, currently supported by DC-HSDPA technology, already covers 55% of the UK population with an initial focus on 50 towns and cities. According to operator, it will reach 80% population coverage by the end of March and in the second half of this year it will incorporate 1800Mhz spectrum already acquired by Three to add even more coverage and capacity.

Customers with LTE ready devices, including the Apple iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920, Sony Xperia Z, Apple iPad mini and Apple iPad with Retina display, will be able to access Three’s LTE network and will also be able to use the 1800Mhz spectrum when it is added later this year. Operator plans to launch LTE versions of the Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II within the next month, and the BlackBerry Z10 in mid-February.