Three has announced that its 4G LTE service will be available in four locations in the UK by the end of the year.

London, Birmingham and the West Midlands, Manchester, and Reading will be the first to benefit from a 4G network on Three. The company said that 50 more cities will get 4G by the end of 2014, with 98% of the population covered by the end of 2015.

Unlike other carriers which charge a premium for 4G data rates, Three said it would be available at no extra cost to anyone with a compatible handset.

4G in the UK uses the 800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies on LTE bands 3 and 20. Both those bands are supported by the iPhone 5c and 5s announced by Apple yesterday, though not by the iPhone 5 or current iPad.