AT&T has picked Long Term Evolution (LTE) for its fourth generation system upgrades.
AT&T, the top wireless telco in the United States and T-Mobile, are backers of the GSM standard so the move to LTE isn’t too surprising. But it does mean that any “4G” upgrades (beyond HSPA) are likely to be at least 2-3 years off and require new handsets and basestations.
The news comes less than three months after No.2 player Verizon Wireless also announced its support for LTE in November. While Qualcomm may have some royalty and licensing opportunities in LTE, its own 4G “standard” (UMA), has largely been snubbed.
Meanwhile, AT&T today announced that it would deploy earlier third-generation (3G) wireless services to more than 80 additional cities by the end of the year. The planned expansion is expected to deliver 3G to nearly 350 leading U.S. markets by the end of 2008, including all of the top 100 U.S. cities. The 3G initiative will include the roll out of more than 1,500 additional cell sites nationwide.
UMTS (3G) is becoming widespread (see chart above), with more than 160 million UMTS subscribers worldwide on 203 UMTS networks in 85 countries. Informa Telecoms is forecasting there will be 1.3 billion 3G subscribers by 2012. But next generation “4G” (LTE) is OFDM-based, requiring a fork-lift upgrade and a duplicative, parallel network.
Sprint’s 4G strategy is focused on Mobile WiMax. WiMAX is widely reported to have at least a 2-3 year time to market advantage over LTE. Today’s mobile WiMAX is also likely to be compatible with the 802.16m standard that features 100 Mbps (mobile) and 1 Gbps (fixed) speeds that LTE promotes. Sprint’s partnership with Clearwire appears to be on again.
Related DailyWireless articles include: Verizon: It’s LTE, Sprint: It’s WiMAX, Xohm “Partners”?, T-Mobile: $10B in 3 Years, Nokia Siemens: LTE Works, and XOHM Live?.
