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Following the news earlier this week that Ofcom has granted telecoms provider Everything Everywhere permission to roll out its 4G services, the company appears to have selected a questionable logo for its new service ahead of its launch next month.
The logo itself has come under fire as it appears to be a heavily stylised @ symbol, which at first glance closely resembles a snail – a controversial choice for the service set to become the UKs fastest mobile broadband infrastructure.
It has emerged that ten trademarks were registered with the Intellectual Property Office on May 29th, which includes "4G Every", "4G Everywhere", "4G Everywhere Everywhere" and "4GEE".
All of the trademarks above feature the snail-like design, which many users will be hoping isn’t an indication of the service’s speed.
Since PCR first reported on the news earlier this week, opinions on the decision have been circulating throughout the tech world, both supporting and condemning the decision.
In reaction to the news, Andrew Ferguson, editor of Thinkbroadband.com said: "The move by Ofcom to allow deployment of 4G before the auction process completes will be welcomed by the consumer. The question now is what level of coverage will be available, it is not clear how much of the Orange/T-Mobile mast network will be upgraded to 4G and in what time scale."
He continued to highlight the importance of the service and its conjunction with the rumoured release date of Apple’s latest iPhone device, which is heavily tipped to be announced in September.
"If the iPhone 5 launches with support for 1800 MHz LTE, then this will give Everything Everywhere a competitive edge, but Apple has not released firm information on what LTE frequencies the iPhone 5 will support, it may not work with any planned 4G network in the UK.
Stephanie Liston, Senior Counsel at Charles Russel LLP, commented: "It is rare for a regulator to give head starts or handicaps to competitive operators. It may have been more tactical for Ofcom to have delayed its decision until sometime in the Autumn. The head start would then have been diminished and the competitive disadvantage to other operators limited."
Whilst it has been well publicised that the decision appears to offer Everything Everywhere an unfair advantage over its competitors, with an uncontested first crack at the market, Liston doesn’t believe it is necessarily a bad thing for the company’s competitors, stating "Being a first mover in telecoms is not always an advantage".
Everything Everywhere, which owns both Orange and T-Mobile, has stated that the two brands will continue to operate individually. However, they are likely to be incorporated into the EE brand when its 4G campaign begins.
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