T-Mobile USA begins to offer 42Mbps download speed
T-Mobile USA has announced that it has upgraded its HSPA network in selected areas to support a peak-rate download speed of up to 42Mbps. T-Mobile customers in Las Vegas, New York and Orlando, will be the first in the country to experience the increased speed, followed closely by Chicago and further expansion of the New York network.
By mid-year, T-Mobile expects 140 million Americans in 25 markets to have access to increased mobile download speeds.
According to Neville Ray, Chief Technology Officer, T-Mobile USA, as T-Mobile continues the aggressive expansion of America’s largest 4G network, they are doubling their maximum speed in more than two dozen markets, starting with three important cities today. They will continue to build on their 4G network advantage this year, providing customers with an industry-leading mobile data experience.
As T-Mobile’s 4G network continues to expand and become faster, the company’s portfolio of 4G products is also growing. T-Mobile has announced plans to deliver 25 HSPA+ capable devices this year and this spring will introduce seven new 4G-capable devices.
According to Cole Brodman, Chief Marketing Officer, T-Mobile USA, access to mobile content is central to the experience on a vast and growing number of consumer devices, exponentially increasing the demand for fast 4G mobile broadband connections. In fact, data traffic on T-Mobile’s network is quadrupled year over year.
Google to launch NFC payments’ trials
Google is planning NFC mobile payments’ trials in New York and San Francisco. According to reports, the trial will begin in the next four months and that Google will pay for the installation of thousands†of custom-built NFC-enabled Verifone terminals at merchants across both cities. It is speculated that Google’s Nexus S smartphone the first Android device to ship with built-in NFC functionality will play a key role in the trial.
These rumors follow on the back of Google’s recent launch of NFC-enabled marketing in Las Vegas, Portland and Austin, which allows users to swipe their NFC-enabled smartphones against a merchant-displayed sticker to access tourist/business information or special offers.
The service works in conjunction with the Google Places and Hotpot applications, which allows users to recommend and rate businesses and tourist attractions while allowing businesses to use customized Google kits from the Google Places catalogue to encourage customer participation.
The rumors about the latest trials have given rise to speculation that users will have coupons, gift-and-loyalty cards and subscriptions loaded onto their devices in addition to the usual purchasing information.
LTE to overcome WiMAX and dominate 4G shipments
Driven by widespread mobile network operator adoption, LTE will have more than nine times as many subscribers as WiMAX by 2014. Worldwide LTE subscribers will rise rapidly during the next two years, and in 2012 will surpass those of WiMAX, the current leading 4G air standard. In 2014, LTE subscribers will reach 303.1 million, compared to 33.4 million for WiMAX.
With WiMAX enjoying a two- to three-year head start in next-generation network deployments, it presently enjoys a major advantage in market share in the 4G segment. However, with LTE supported by most of the leading wireless operators worldwide, it will rise to surpass WiMAX in 2012 and then dominate worldwide during the following years.
LTE subscribers worldwide are expected to top 14.9 million in 2011, as compared to 6.8 million last year. In comparison, global subscribers in 2011 on LTE – championed by most tier-one MNOs globally, such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless in the United States, as well as Vodafone and TeliaSonera in Europe – are projected to reach 10.4 million. But while that total is smaller than WiMAX numbers, it reflects an astonishing leap from just 702,000 users in 2010 and virtually zero in 2009.
Although the International Telecommunications Union has announced that neither LTE nor WiMAX are officially 4G technologies, industry vernacular has adopted the designation for both. Regardless of how they are categorized, this set of next-generation mobile wireless standards is characterized by very high data-transmission speeds, flexible width channelization and perhaps, most importantly, low-latency packet transfers. As is normal for the industry, while older wireless technologies such as 2G and 3G continue to be in use in every part of the world, the transition to higher-speed broadband networks is under way, and the race is on to determine which 4G technology will provide the expected performance and enhancements from day one.
At the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Verizon Wireless used the event as a platform to officially introduce 10 LTE devices from four different original equipment manufacturers, utilizing four different core-chipset partners. Of the 10 new devices, three were media tablets, four were smart phones, two were notebooks and one was a mobile hotspot. The new entries beefed up Verizon’s previous LTE lineup of two USB dongles introduced last quarter.
An estimated 10 LTE operators worldwide have launched to date, and more than 30 new operators will start LTE services this year.
For WiMAX, the majority of operators can be found in Europe, followed by the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa and then the Americas.
LightSquared faces data network hurdle (USA)
The USA based start-up LTE network, LightSquared is facing regulatory glitches after several US government agencies cited concerns about significant interference concerns from the network’s radio spectrum allocation.
As per Lawrence Strickling, assistant secretary of communications and information in the Commerce Department, services as disparate as the GPS network and some maritime and aviation emergency communications could be affected by interference from LightSquared’s network.
Mass-market use of LightSquared’s airwaves would create a challenging interference environment that must be addressed. It is incumbent on the FCC to deal with the resulting interference issues before any interference occurs.
According to Julius Knapp, Chief of the agency’s Office of Engineering and Technology, the FCC is reviewing LightSquared’s request and will ensure that any approvals would not result in harmful interference to current licensed users. They remain committed to moving forward with an open and transparent process.
According to LightSquared, it will begin trials in Baltimore, Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix early this year and has signed a US$7 billion contract with Nokia Siemens Networks to deploy a nationwide network. The company won’t sell direct to consumers, but plans to offer access to its network on a wholesale basis to the other networks.
Device makers compete to hit 4G network
The mobile internet is finally becoming a reality, urged on by the installment of new high-speed mobile data networks and the emergence of a new class of smartphones, slate-style tablets and other devices designed to take advantage of the new network capabilities and content geared to mobile users.
The chief US mobile network operators and makers of smartphones and tablet PCs used the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, as a launch pad for their new 4G services, software applications and devices boasting download speeds up to 10 times faster than current 3G networks.
The success or failure of the companies in persuading consumers and business users to trade-up to higher speed data networks and the next generation electronic devices that run on them will be closely watched elsewhere as mobile network operators worldwide prepare to invest in new infrastructure based on LTE (Long Term Evolution) and rival technologies.
At CES, Verizon Wireless, the joint venture between Verizon Communications and Britain’s Vodafone group, launched 10 new consumer products including four smartphones and two tablets designed to operate on its new LTE network which launched last month.
The new LTE devices, which will be available by mid-year, include Motorola’s new Droid Bionic smartphone and rival Google Android-powered handsets from HTC, Samsung and LG Electronics.
The two tablets, both powered by Google’s new Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) operating system, are Motorola’s Xoom and an LTE version of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.
According to Dan Malone, Verizon Wireless Chief Technology Officer, the LTE network performance is already exceeding our expectations and promised that the network would be quickly extended from the initial 39 markets to more than 170 markets and two-thirds of the US population by year-end.
MetroPCS beats Verizon and AT&T in 4G LTE offering
4G services has recently hit Las Vegas and within days a small prepaid wireless provider MetroPCS, has flattened Verizon Wireless and AT&T to offer a 4G alternative to Sprint and Clearwire’s WiMAX.
MetroPCS is offering its LTE service plans for US$55 and US$60, depending on features. The carrier is also offering a 4G handset, the Samsung Craft, for US$300 after a US$50 rebate.
MetroPCS aims to organize LTE in three other cities in the U.S. by the end of this year, and its remaining markets in 2011. AT&T had originally targeted an initial launch of its own LTE network at 2010, but just announced a decision to push back deployment until mid-2011, putting it behind competitor Verizon in 4G deployment plans.
Offering daily and weekly prepaid service plans as options might make sense for MetroPCS, too, especially in cities such as Las Vegas which attract huge numbers of vacationers, convention-goers, and other short-term visitors.
First LTE phone launches in Las Vegas
Samsung Mobile has launched the very first LTE phone, ‘Samsung Craft’ in the United States. This is the launch of the very first commercial 4G LTE network with MetroPCS in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Besides the LTE chips inside, the Craft comes with 1x EV-DO CDMA radio, Wi-Fi/GPS/Bluetooth, a 3.3″ AMOLED touchscreen and QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2 Megapixel camera, and a 2GB microSD card with support for cards up to 32GB in size. The Craft is pre-loaded with a full-length copy of Star Trek on its SD card.
The Craft will be available for US$299 from MetroPCS, and the company’s new 4G Plans include a standard Unlimited Voice/Text/Web plans for US$55 per month and the company also launching a premium unlimited plan which will include 4G Video On Demand which streams TV from 14 stations including NBC, BET, and Univision.
MetroPCS’ network will cover both 4G and otherwise, which is quite limited, so this launch is more of a ground breaking launch for the city of Las Vegas, as it is the only city in the United States to have live WiMAX, LTE, and HSPA+ networks running concurrently.
T-Mobile USA to continue HSPA+ roll out
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Rolling out of HSPA+ network is planned to be continued by T-Mobile USA in a number of densely populated markets in the Northeast of the country, including New York City, parts of New Jersey, upstate New York, Connecticut and Providence.
Memphis and Las Vegas are also included in the list of the initial areas of Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
According to the telecom operator, the 21Mbps version of the HSPA+ standard now covers more than 30 million potential customers with plans to cover 100 metro areas and 185 million pops by the end of the year.
MetroPCS’s LTE network to start later this year (USA)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Long Term Evolution (LTE) network is expected to be launched by MetroPCS, later this year. It has also planned to deploy a commercial 4G network in various metropolitan markets including Las Vegas.
According to Roger D. Linquist, chairman, president and CEO of MetroPCS, the company is on track for its initial 4G LTE launch in selected metropolitan areas in the second half of this year and its 4G LTE network will enable it to offer an increasing array of new services and applications to Smartphones and other devices.
Ericsson has been contracted by MetroPCS as the infrastructure vendor for its new network.
