Surge In LTE Launches
By Paul Kruczkowski, Editor
There has been a recent explosion of Long Term Evolution (LTE) network launches. New LTE networks are popping up in major cities, mid-sized markets, and rural areas across North America, and there is no sign that the LTE expansion will slow anytime soon. The last couple of weeks are prime examples of the effort wireless service providers are putting into increasing the availability of their LTE platforms.
On September 18, AT&T launched LTE in its first five U. S. cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. During the remainder of 2011, the company plans to launch LTE in10 additional U.S cities. Service in these 15 markets will cover approximately 70 million people.
Verizon Wireless also continued its LTE expansion by adding service to 26 more cities on September 15. This brings Verizon’s total number of LTE markets to 143 since the company began its build out in late 2010. Verizon claims that LTE service is now available to over half the population of the United States. It also announced that 21 additional U.S. cities will be added starting October 20,many of which are mid-size markets.
Verizon has also reached out to rural areas. Eleven rural markets have announced their participation in Verizon’s LTE in Rural America program. This program allows rural carriers to lease the 700MHz spectrum from Verizon, and build a LTE system using their own towers and backhaul equipment in conjunction with Verizon’s 4G LTE equipment. The leased spectrum covers more than 2.1 million people.
On September 14, Bell Mobility became the first carrier to launch LTE in the Toronto market , servicing the large urban area from Toronto to Hamilton and westward into the Kitchener–Waterloo area. The deployment makes LTE service available to approximately 2.6 million residents. Rogers Communication announced that its Toronto LTE launch is scheduled for September 28 , and it also plans to add service in Vancouver and Montreal later this year. Expansion into rural Canadian markets depends on the outcome and timing of Industry Canada’s 700 MHz spectrum auctions.
The LTE build out in North America is moving full speed ahead. This trend is expected to continue through 2012 as the demand for faster broadband services grows across the United States and Canada. Service providers will continue to invest in infrastructure as they try to transition more customers from the current 3G / 4G solutions to LTE.