DT: Don’t Expect 4G On T-Mobile USA Within The Next Two Years
With Magenta currently leading the mobile speed race with their HSPA+ 21Mbps network, the question is, will they be able to maintain the #1 position, or will they get left behind? Last week, T-Mobile USA’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann stated that its U.S branch will get fourth-generation wireless network either by buying spectrum, re-farming existing spectrum, or potentially leasing spectrum together with others. Obermann also included that their U.S branch has no plans of “trailing others in the next two years.” Instead, Obermann states that, “With HSPA+ we’re in a very good position. We still have plenty of capacity, so we are competitive.” At this point, I think its safe to assume that, our original report of T-Mobile planning to upgrade its HSPA+ network to reach speeds of 42Mbps in 2011 is correct.
But in today’s data hungry world, in which the average smartphone data usage has tripped since 2009 and LTE offering more than 5x the speeds of T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 21 Mbps network, will T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network be enough? What say you?