T-Mobile to Wait Two Years to Launch 4G

WASHINGTON, August 16, 2010 – While many telecom providers plan to have their 4G offerings in place by 2012, T-Mobile will wait. In a press conference, Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Officer Rene Obermann said the firm does not plan to begin trials for a while.

Obermann added that they company is planning to upgrade its existing HSPA+ 3G network in 2011. Currently, the network is able to provide users with download speeds of up to 21 Mbps down and the upgrade will double that. However, it is important to note that long-term evolution technology will provide users with speeds of 105 mbps.

“‘With HSPA+ we’re in a very good position. We still have plenty of capacity, so we are competitive” said Obermann.

One reason for the lag is due to the lack of spectrum owned by T-Mobile.

Robert Dotson, CEO T-Mobile USA, said, “You can’t ever buy spectrum when you need it,” “We’ve had ongoing discussions, whether it’s with cable providers or whether that’s with Clearwire.”