AT&T, Verizon 4G Wireless Technology to Be Dominant by 2012
By Amy Thomson - Feb 8, 2011 4:35 PM GMT+0100
Long-term evolution, the high-speed mobile Internet standard used by AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless in the U.S., will become the dominant fourth-generation network technology worldwide by 2012, a research firm predicted.
Next year, there will be more than twice as many customers for LTE as for WiMax, an alternative 4G technology used by Sprint Nextel Corp., researcher IHS ISuppli said today. In 2014, there will be 303.1 million LTE users worldwide, almost ten times as many customers as WiMax, IHS ISuppli said.
Sprint has bet billions on the WiMax standard, funneling cash into its partner Clearwire Corp. to build out the first, nationwide 4G network. The companies have said they chose WiMax because of the technology’s early lead on LTE, a standard also endorsed by several Asian and European carriers.
“With WiMax enjoying a two to three-year head start in next generation network deployments, it presently enjoys a major advantage in market share,” said Francis Sideco, an analyst for El Segundo, California-based IHS ISuppli. “With LTE supported by most of the leading wireless operators worldwide, it will rise to surpass WiMax.”
A wider adoption of a wireless technology may help reduce prices for network equipment and phones, and prompt handset makers to produce more devices for that standard.
Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, has said it will spend as much as $5 billion to upgrade its network in the next three to five years. The modernization plan will make it possible for Sprint to add LTE service. Clearwire has also said it may switch to LTE in the future.
4G networks provide customers with data speeds several times faster than older technology. Carriers are building out speedier infrastructure as they encourage more customers to buy data plans, which give users Web access and the ability to download games and music.
WiMax will maintain its lead this year with 14.9 million subscribers worldwide to LTE’s 10.4 million, IHS ISuppli said. Verizon began offering LTE to customers in some markets last year. Clearwire and Sprint have been offering WiMax service for more than two years.
To contact the reporter on this story: Amy Thomson in New York at athomson6@bloomberg.net
http://www.isuppli.com/Mobile-and-Wireless-Communications/Ma…
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... t-mobile existiert gar nicht ... 