“AT&T has formally announced plans for deploying its 7.2 Mbps mobile data service upgrade this year, which will support faster iPhone models expected to be released this summer,” Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider.
“AT&T said the upgrade to ‘High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology,’ which delivers theoretical peak speeds twice that of the company’s current 3G network, will continue through 2011. Next year, the company will also begin trials of LTE (Long Term Evolution), with deployment of that technology to begin in 2011. LTE plans to eventually reach theoretical peak speeds of 20 Mbps,” McLean reports.
“AT&T says its current 3G service is available in 350 major US metro areas, with deployment in another 20 planned this year. The company stated that its new HSPA 7.2 technology ‘will be deployed widely in the network, with the benefits of the network upgrade to be announced on a local basis as the faster speeds are turned up,'” McLean reports.
AT&T also said it will introduce ‘multiple HSPA 7.2-compatible laptop cards and smartphones beginning later this year.’ Next month, Apple is expected to release a new iPhone model that supports HSPA 7.2 service. In addition to having access to a faster network, the new iPhone model is expected to have a significantly faster processor, enabling it to better handle the data it can receive, resulting in faster overall operation,” McLean reports.
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Nathan” for the heads up.]
