It's a bird... it's a plane... it's... LTE news?!

WiMAX has dominated all of our 4G sites, blogs, and forums lately, but lest you have forgotten, there IS a second 4G mobile broadband internet technology - LTE! Many companies, including biggies like Verizon and AT&T have chosen to work towards building out LTE networks rather than WiMAX, but deployment and availability of LTE has been estimated to be several years behind WiMAX, which is why we don't hear nearly as much about it.

This week, though, brought about not one, not two, but THREE nuggets of LTE news!

First, Qualcomm announced that they are building a dual mode modem that will operate on both LTE and HSPA+ and that they plan to have it ready for second quarter of 2009 - whether there is a network to use it with or not. Senior VP Encrico Salvatori elaborated, saying much "still depends on a number of very uncertain factors, many of which are dependent on mobile network operators' plans and investment priorities about how and when to roll out this next stage of wireless technology" - in other words, they are steaming ahead at full speed with their chip-making plans even though they have no control over actual network availability.

Also in the news this week: LG, another electronics giant you are surely familiar with, showed off their first modem, an LTE-ready chip to be used in future 4G phones. They're estimating that the first 4G phones will come out in 2010, but without a network right now anybody's guess is as good as anyone else's!

Then, on the heels of those two hardware-creation updates, Verizon CTO and VP Dick Lynch announced during a speech that Verizon is accelerating their plans and vows to have an active LTE network "somewhere here in the U.S. probably this time next year." A lofty goal indeed, considering previous estimates were looking more in the 2012 range, but a wise move by Verizon/Vodafone if they do indeed have the resources necessary to build out a new network. Remember, part of the reason Clearwire is able to roll out their WiMAX network so aggressively is because of that 3+ billion in investment dollars the merger with Sprint afforded them - developing, testing, and deploying a new network doesn't come cheap. However, if they can pull it off, they will beat competitors like AT&T to the market, which will pay off big time in the long run!

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