North America's 4G footprint is beginning to take shape. MetroPCS now has two LTE networks open in Las Vegas and in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, yesterday Verizon Wireless announced that it will have LTE in 38 U.S. cities and 60 commercial airports by the end of 2010. Also this week, AT&T announced its first LTE-capable device, and Canadian carrier Rogers announced its first 700MHz LTE trial in Ottawa, Ontario.
LightSquared, the still-in-development wholesale LTE network built in the 1-2GHz L-band, announced several important partnerships today for equipment, chips, and consumer devices as well.
The first announcement is that Qualcomm has integrated L-Band LTE into its mainstream chipset roadmap, so forthcoming Qualcomm mobile data modems will support LightSquared's network, including the MDM9600, the first multi-mode LTE modem.
Today's second announcement is that Nokia will be providing the network's data-centric consumer products when LightSquared goes live. Nokia-Siemens Networks already had a $7 billion stake in the LightSquared network, but that was in infrastructure deployment, operations and maintenance. This will deal exclusively in consumer goods.
Another announcement concerning consumer products on the LightSquared network today named AnyData and BandRich as suppliers of embedded modules, USB modems, and "other devices which will launch during the second half of 2011."
These are the first consumer-related announcements to come from the LightSquared network since it was announced last July.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
