Consumers who are currently with Orange and T-Mobile – which merged this year to form Everything Everywhere – want to see the firms focus on improving their mobile broadband services, it has been claimed.

According to Conrad Longmore, editor of Mobile Gazette, customers would rather see the companies work on their 3G coverage than plough resources into long-term evolution (LTE) technology.

"The commitment to LTE 4G networks is an attempt to look to the next step in mobile communications," he explained.

However, Mr Longmore suggested that Everything Everywhere's investment plan involves spending "a very large sum of money" on something that very few people can take advantage of.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Orange and T-Mobile phone customers will now be able to use each others' networks to make calls.

However, the companies noted that their respective mobile broadband networks will not be shared by customers until 2011.