BT has recently paid $290 million to buy a block of 4G radio spectrum, with plans to use those waves to launch a 4G-branded mobile network as soon as next year.

In an interview to the Telegraph, the company’s CEO said that it was “highly possible” BT-branded SIM cards would be in customers’ smartphones this time next year.

The network launch details are scarce at the moment, but BT could opt to upgrade its Wi-Fi routers to femtocells, and build out coverage using domestic broadband capacity for backhaul services. When out and about, users could roam onto a national mobile network, or rely on BT’s existing extensive network of Wi-Fi hotspots to get their mobile fix.

More competition is always a good thing for end users. We’ll see how BT’s plans pan out…

All these connections are spread across 163 networks in 70 countries, and the forecast is that there will be more than 400 live networks across 120 countries by December 2017.

Industry growth has been primarily driven by operators in Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and the US — which are the five countries that represent 90% of the global LTE connections market.

The US is especially interesting market as there are some operators which have started turning the page over the 2G chapter, according to Joss Gillet, senior analyst at Wireless Intelligence.

He went on to predict the industry surpassing 900 million LTE connections globally by December 2017, with the 1 billion milestone achieved in the first half of 2018.

[Via: MobileWorldLive]

The idea here is to convey the message that Rogers is different from other Canadian carriers and that its network is fastest out there, providing theoretical download speeds of up to 150 Mbps.

However, there are just 3 handsets that support LTE on 2600MHz, including the LG Optimus G, Samsung Galaxy S4 and BlackBerry Q10, with Sammy’s baby being the only one to support both AWS and 2600Mhz over LTE, and can even switch dynamically between the two based on prevailing network conditions.

Rogers’ official pitch goes like this:

LTE Max refers to our national network deployment of dual frequency 2600 and 2100 MHz bands, deployment of 2x20MHz spectrum blocks and high concentration of cell sites within LTE coverage area – it isn’t using carrier aggregation. The maximum download speeds for LTE Max are 150 Mbps, but speeds may vary based on device, topography and environmental conditions, network congestion and other factors.

Meanwhile, the carrier has expanded LTE coverage to 44 new markets, more than 20 of which are part of the LTE Max network:

Ontario:

• Chatham
• Milton
• Sarnia
• Woodstock
• Orangeville
• St. Catharines, which also includes Fort Erie, Port Colborne, Welland and Pelham;
• GTA North expansion, which also includes King City & Bradford
• GTA West expansion, which also includes Georgetown & Halton Hills
• Kentville
• Brantford
• Collingwood
• GTA Northeast Expansion, which also includes Stouffville & East Gwillimbury
• Oshawa Expansion, which also includes Clarington

Alberta:

• Lloydminster

Nova Scotia:

• Kentville

[Via: MobileSyrup]

The Xperia Z touts a 5.0 inch TFT 1920×1080 display running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and powered by a quad-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The unit has 13MP rear Exmor RS camera, a 2 MP front-facing camera and is water-resistant for up to 30 minutes of exposure.

Although we have not heard official word about the Sony Xperia Z coming to T-Mobile, the FCC filing confirms that T-Mobile indeed has the device prepped for a release. When that will happen remains to be seen, so check back with us for more developments.

[Via: Phone Dog , FCC]

Last week during AT&T’s earnings call, the company stated that it currently covers almost 200 million POPs with LTE service, and expects to reach 90 percent of its planned 300 million POP LTE deployment by the end of this year.

Are you in one of the LTE expansion locales and are seeing  improvements? Let us know in the comments below.

The list of AT&T’s LTE market launches and expansions follows below.

LTE MARKETS LAUNCHED TODAY:

 

• Athens, TX
• Biloxi-Gulfport, MS
• Centralia, WA
• Chattanooga, TN
• Corsicana, TX
• Cullman, AL
• Decatur, AL
• Henderson, NC
• Huntsville, AL
• Huntsville, TX
• Lake City, FL
• Lansing, MI
• Lufkin-Nacogdoches, TX
• Mountain Home, AR
• Ocala, FL
• Paris, TX
• Shreveport-Bossier City, LA

LTE MARKET EXPANSIONS LIVE TODAY:

• Florence, SC expansion (Marion County)
• Harrisburg, PA expansion (Mechanicsburg)
• Jackson, TN expansion (Henderson County, Benton County & Camden) Kansas City, MO/KS expansion (I-49, Harrisonville to Nevada)
• Little Rock, AR expansion (US65 N connection)
• Nashua, NH expansion (Manchester) –
• Phoenix, AZ expansion (Sun City, East Mesa)
• Southwest Arkansas expansion (Ouachita/Monticello)

According to the leak, the AT&T U.S. unit is pretty similar to the global variant, touting the same 5.5-inch screen, a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, a 3,140mAh battery, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The unit touts a 2.1 megapixel front-facing camera, a 13 megapixel rear camera, NFC and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n. The screen technology has changed, however, with the AT&T variant utilizing a Full HD IPS panel instead of the True HD-IPS+ screen that is used in the global version. Of course, the radios have been modified to take advantage of AT&T’s LTE, HSPA+21 and quad band GSM. The unit will ship with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

Bloatware seems to be kept at a minimum, with only two AT&T apps in tow; AT&T Drivemode and Navigator. LG’s software will bring QSlide 2.0, which provides multiple transparent windows, Dual Recording, Tag+ for NFC, QuickMemo, Notebook and a customizable notification LED that lived underneath the device’s home button.

So check back with us on May 1st for coverage of LG’s New York event, and in the meantime check out our LG Optimus G Pro review.

[Via: Engadget]

• Airdrie, Alberta;
• Langley, B.C
• Keswick, Ontario
• Hamilton, including Grimsby in Ontario
• Orillia, Ontario
• Stratford, Ontario
• Ottawa, including Kanata, Nepean, Gloucester, Stittsville and Cumberland

Rogers is also proud to be the first carrier to bring LTE to Stratford and Orillia, plus “all of these cities, to the exception of Airdrie, will be running the blazing fast 2600 MHz LTE spectrum.”

[Via: MobileSyrup]

NVIDIA was tasked with optimizing the Tegra 4i in just 22 days, a feat that was by no means modest. NVIDIA gathered over 120 of its engineers from around the globe to their headquarters in sunny Santa Clara, and began work on their momentous task. The team toiled day and night, determined to make the Tegra 4i a reality. In almost no time, they had Linux booting on the system, and had added a touch screen input. A short time later the software modem sent a text message to NVIDIA’s CEO. The Tegra 4i, codenamed “Grey” was coming to life.

NVIDIA pulled it off, proudly displaying a working demo of their incredible Tegra 4i chip at MWC, which was housed inside a reference phone named “Phoenix,” thanks to the engineers and design team.

Tegra 4i chips are expected to be included in future budget and tablets, hopefully by the end of this year. The chip has 60 custom GPU cores, with a max clock speed of 2.3 GHz. The integrated modem technology allows the chip to support LTE and HSPA+, as well as a variety of other bands, allowing for extended battery life while utilizing a data connection.

One thing is for sure, NVIDIA has one heck of an engineering and design team, and will help define the development of mobile devices in the future. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

[Via: NVIDIA Blog] [Image: FanPop]

• California: Los Angeles, Contra Costa County
• Florida: Palm Bay, Port St. Lucie, West Palm Beach
• Indiana: Bloomington and Lafayette
• Illinois: Rochelle
• Minnesota: Mankato-North Mankato
• Missouri: Joplin
• North Carolina: Charlotte, Shelby, Albemarle, Sailsbury, Lincolnton
• Tennessee: Memphis, Greenville, Tullahoma
• Texas: Denison, Kerrville
• Virginia: Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News

If you reside in these areas and have a Sprint LTE capable handset such as the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Samsung Galaxy S III or the LG Optimus G, or are planning on owning a HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4 when they are released, tomorrow will be a game changer for you. Expect to see download speeds of at least 6 to 8 Mbps, with speeds topping out at 25 Mbps.

Sprint has yet to officially announce this news, so there’s no telling at the moment if this rumor is a reality. But we can hope, right?

[Via: PhoneArena]

We hope you’ll find yourself “covered” if you’re still lacking the LTE signal in the city where you live and/or work. If not, well, you can always pick another mobile operator which can provide you with faster mobile Internet speeds. It’s your call…

[Via: MobileSyrup]

While contracts for tablets aren’t a favorite of ours, customers looking to nab the 32GB Kindle Fire HD 8.9 with a new two-year contract will receive a $150 discount, bringing the cost of the $399 tablet down to $249.

AT&T is the first carrier to offer the Kindle Fire HD  with LTE, which will bring the same great speeds you’ve seen on its LTE-enabled smartphones. The tablet supports AT&T’s HSPA+ network as well.

Outside of the new connectivity options, this is still the same Kindle Fire HD that’s caused quite a stir. The HD is a solid follow-up to Amazon’s first Kindle Fire offering, and adding LTE to the device breathes a bit of life into the tablet that was announced last September.

[Via: AT&T, Phandroid]