People in Barnsley, Chorley and Slough will have woken up this morning with a sense of new beginnings as EEs 4G went live across these and 47 other UK towns and cities.

The company says that half of the population can now access 4G service and by the end of June, it has committed to reaching another 30 new places. By next, EE has said it is aiming to reach 98 per cent of people.

A spokesperson declined to tell us how many people are already using 4G as the information is commercially sensitive but they did tell us that their user base is growing by10 per cent each week.

The Samsung S4 with 4G capability is also now available to pre-order in the UK on  EE and has some freebies thrown in for people who take the plunge before 26 April.

Plans start from £31 per month but a launch deal for the handset, which includes a £79.99 upgrade cost and £41 a month on a 24 month plan comes with unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of mobile data a month. The Galaxy S4 will also be available 4G-ready on Orange and T-Mobile plans.

New 4G towns and citiies:  Amersham, Barnsley, Belfast, Bingley, Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford , Bristol, Cardiff, Chelmsford, Chorley, Coventry, Derby, Doncaster, Dudley, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Lichfield, Liverpool, London, Loughborough, Luton, Maidenhead, Manchester, Newbury, Newcastle, Newport, Nottingham, Preston, Reading, Rotherham, Sheffield, Shipley, Slough, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, St Albans, Stockport, Sunderland, Sutton Coldfield, Telford, Walsall, Watford, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.