Rogers is promising 21 Mbps to Toronto at the end of the month, and spreading to the rest of Canada in due time, but internally-released counterpoints bring up some valid facts:
Key reasons why Bell is not concerned:
1. Rogers deployment of HSPA+ will start in August with a progressive roll out of the pocket coverage in the Greater Toronto Area ONLY
– Expansion timing and locations are unknown at this time since Rogers is very vague with roll out plans2. Canada-wide rollout of Rogers HSPA+ netowrk will follow over time
– Bell plans to offer a national HSPA network at launch
– It has taken Rogers over 3 years to deploy 3G (HSPA) coverage to 78% of the Canadian population
– Bell offers 3G (EVDO) coverage to 89% of the Canadian population – the largest 3G coverage in Canada3. Rogers plans to offer (1) Mobile Internet Stick at time of initial HSPA+ launch
– There are no HSPA+ phones and smartphones available commercially in the world today
– None of Rogers 3G devices today will be able to take advantage of 21Mbps speeds
– Most of Rogers devices are 2G (they only have one 3G BlackBerry whereas ALL of Bell’s BlackBerry devices are 3G)
There’s certainly something to be said about the lack of devices available, a situation we’re seeing south of the border as well. I’d certainly like to see 21 Mbps on phones and not just just internet sticks, but that ball is squarely in manufacturers’ corners. In fact, Rogers deserves a high five for proving some pull pressure for OEMs to get some HSPA+ handsets out the door before LTE rolls around. It’s true that Rogers will likely take its sweet time getting HSPA+ out there, especially to the more sparsely-populated areas, and they’ll need the head start before Bell and Telus flip the switch to GSM.
[via MobileSyrup]