SFR has become the first French operator to commercially launch LTE services with its network going live for consumers and businesses in Lyon. The rollout comes after summer tests which included some 400 SFR clients in the city.
Montpellier will be the second city to have the network on December 18, with Lille, Marseille, Strasbourg and Toulouse to follow in H1 2013.
When it comes to available devices, the company offers Samsung Galaxy S III 4G, HTC One XL, Motorola Razr HD, as well as the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 4G tablet and 4G Internet Key.
SFR claims the new network offers download speeds that are up to five times faster than 3G and 10 times faster for upload. Pricing starts at 49.99 EUR per month with data plans of between 2GB and 6GB.
As for Orange and Bouygues Telecom, these two are planning to join 4G early next year. The chances are Free Mobile won’t be far behind, either.
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]
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Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do.
In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application.
Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.