AT&T today released its initial LTE rollout plan, with five markets to get LTE sometime “this summer”. Those lucky cities will be Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio.
Ten more markets, which are yet to be named, will also be getting AT&T’s LTE network built in the second half of this year. AT&T says in its press release that across those first 15 markets, 70 million Americans will have coverage on their LTE network. Currently AT&T does not offer any LTE compatible devices, but again claims that there will be, by the end of the year, some devices that are LTE capable.
Earlier this year, Apple posted a job listing for someone with cellular protocol experience, who would have the specific duty of implementing, integrating and maintaining various network protocols, including LTE. Whilst in January, China Mobile’s Chairman said “Apple has made it clear they will support TD-LTE.” This year’s iPhone, which is widely expected to be revealed in September, is unlikely to have LTE support. However, with LTE adoption spreading across the world, and multiple Android and soon Windows Phone 7 devices supporting LTE, it seems very plausible that the following iPhone will support LTE.
[Via Engadget]
