Verizon LTE 4G Deployment Partners - Image credit:Telco 2.0
The arrival of the rumored Apple tablet, the end of AT&T's exclusivity agreement for the iPhone and the launch of Verizon Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G network. Are they all converging?
According to a recent report by AppleInsider, Apple's tablet is expected by early 2010. We have reports indicating that the tablet will run on Verizon’s LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G network. The credibility of these reports are enhanced as Apple’s iPhone exclusivity arrangement with AT&T is apparently set to expire in 2010.
The timing is interesting to say the least.
I mentioned Verizon's 4G as a possibility for the Apple tablet in my recent column, “Apple tablet rumored to feature fast 4G wireless.” This seemed to catch the attention of a number of readers, one of who commented that, “The dates for the 4G LTE technology that Verizon and AT&T plan to introduce are quite optimistic...The only 4G technology being deployed today in the U.S. is the Sprint/Clearwire WiMAX...(and) WiMAX is a year or two away from being broadly available in the Bay Area.”
I know this reader. Trust me, he knows what he's talking about. So his comments give me pause as I compare them to what has been noted on various web sites recently. For example, Beet.TV has reported that Verizon will roll out 4G in 20 or 30 U.S. markets by the second half of 2010. Added to that we have TechCrunch's report indicating that Verizon is rushing to get their 4G network up and running in selected locations by the first quarter of 2010. They may well be rushing to meet the release date of the Apple tablet. Stranger things have happened.
Exactly when can we expect Verizon to launch their LTE 4G network? No one knows for sure. However, it appears that Verizon has marshaled some troops ready to help in accomplishing this feat. (And with these kind of tight time frames, this is indeed a feat.) In the 3 August 2009 edition of “The Local” out of Stockholm, Sweden, comes a report that “Sweden’s telecom equipment provider Ericsson has been chosen by Verizon Wireless to help build the United States’ first 4G wireless network.” The report goes on to state that “Ericsson, along with Alcatel-Lucent will help Verizon put the infrastructure in place to allow the US wireless service provider launch the country’s first commercial 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network starting in 2010.”
The pieces of the puzzle seem to be coming together. Ericsson, often affiliated with Sony in the cellular market and the same company who recently moved to acquire Nortel's wireless division, is a telecommunications powerhouse. Acatel-Lucent (Lucent was ironically spawned by the old AT&T) is also a force to be reckoned with. If AT&T's executives aren't spending some sleepless nights worrying about what may be going on here, they should be. And as for Apple, it would be so like them to bet on the right horse at exactly the right moment.
I know what I want for a belated Christmas present. The only question is, will it be this Christmas?
Comments
Sony owns Ericsson, hence the "affiliation."
the writing is clearly on the wall.
(that's not a bad thing)
This, as all blogs appear to be, is speculation with nothing substantial to back up..."facts" are what they call them. I like all the speculation about how Ericsson is being used to help develop the network, just as I was impressed that AT&T is planning on allowing a Chinese company bid for their network, so this remains the same as it was before I wasted your time by writing this just as J Fritz wasted my time rehashing Google News stories for the past year and a half. If Verizon gets an Apple product that doesn't make a phone call, then it again is a failure of Verizon. We all know they screwed up, Cingular bid phone unseen, AT&T (by name only) wins. I cannot wait to see how the amazing Verizon network (for phone calls) does on a data only device...yawn. MM
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