AT&T is prepping for a full out assault on Verizon pockets with the pending T-Mobile acquisition and now ready flip the On switch to their 4G LTE network sometime this summer. AT&T has confirmed the five cities on its initial LTE launch being Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. They also plan to add 10 more markets to that short list by the end of the year coupled with at least 20 4G devices (some HSPA+, some LTE). AT&T hopes to have 70 million Americans covered by their LTE network by year’s end. HSPA+ will still be around until more LTE coverage becomes available. During recent testing AT&T’s LTE was able to achieve almost 30Mbps download & 10Mbps upload speeds but real-world implications could change those numbers. A brief release on it is after the break.
AT&T’s 4G Evolution
Dallas, Texas, May 25, 2011
By John Donovan, AT&T Chief Technology Officer
AT&T has delivered five mobile broadband speed upgrades in recent years, including our HSPA+ deployment last year. And average nationwide speeds on the AT&T network have increased – more than 40 percent over the past two years alone.
The next network evolution will arrive this summer with the addition of LTE in five markets – Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio. We plan to add another 10 or more markets in the second half of the year, and cover 70 million Americans with LTE by year-end. We also have plans to add 20 4G devices to our robust device portfolio this year, with some of those being LTE capable.
We’re positioning to deliver a great mobile broadband experience in the near term with HSPA+ and a growing LTE footprint.
We’ve invested $75 billion in our wireless and wired networks over the last four years – more capital invested in the U.S. than any company in any industry. And we plan to invest $19 billion in our wireless and wireline networks and other capital projects this year. The investments we’ve made to evolve our mobile broadband network in recent years, plus what we have planned for the future, put our customers in position to benefit fully from a host of coming mobile broadband innovations.
