While T-Mobile certainly isn’t hiding its intentions to build a lean and mean LTE network next year, it’s certainly not waiting to get a jumpstart today and has announced it will begin 4G LTE trials starting this summer. While some of you may be thinking it will be 4G similar to what Verizon and AT&T have now— T-Mo has its sights on something bigger and better as it plans on rolling out LTE-Advanced, also known as LTE Release 10… true 4G. Also of note is T-Mo briefly mentioning its 1900MHz 3G deployment in San Francisco recently and the benefits of the rollout. This is just one of what will be several instances of improved 3G deployment at sites and markets around the country which will not only bring faster HSPA+ speeds, but eventually contribute to the overall evolution of the current HSPA+ infrastructure to 4G LTE-Advanced.
Looks like T-Mobile customers not only get to look forward to fast faster HSPA+ speeds, but they will possibly look at the fastest 4G speeds imaginable with the introduction of 4G LTE-advanced next year. Hit the break to see additional details from T-Mobile’s presser.
“Fast Progress on 4G Network Modernization
June 14, 2012We’re making great progress in just three short months since we first announced T-Mobile’s $4 billion 4G network evolution plan, including network modernization and deployment of long term evolution (LTE) service in 2013. Here are some of the highlights:
Just last month, T-Mobile announced multi-year agreements with Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks to support our $4 billion 4G network evolution plan, which will include a modernization of 37,000 cell sites and a move to the latest, state-of-the-art, LTE release 10 capable equipment.
Initially, this effort will improve existing voice and data coverage, make our 4G network compatible with a broader range of devices (including the iPhone), and pave the way for long term evolution (LTE) service next year.
With contracts in place, we’re making excellent headway on our network infrastructure transformation. By the end of this month we expect new equipment to be installed at our first 400 modernized GSM / HSPA+ sites and we plan to grow this to over 2,500 sites by the end of July.
We’ve also secured zoning approval or do not require zoning for over 19,500 sites and have completed necessary entitlement work, including obtaining building permits for over 4,000 sites.
As new equipment is in place, we’re turning up some small scale tests of 4G HSPA+ service in our 1900 MHz spectrum. Some customers with unlocked iPhones recently saw evidence of those tests; clocking much faster data speeds at the Moscone West conference center in San Francisco. More of these speed sightings will occur as we work toward introducing 4G HSPA+ service in our 1900 MHz spectrum in a large number of markets later this year.
Finally, LTE trials are underway and this summer we’ll begin using Release-10 equipment in these trials. The ability to launch with this next version of LTE technology is one advantage of launching next year.
We’ll be sure to keep you posted on our progress along the way.”