September 18 - 2:45pm EDT   Wireless network provider T-Mobile and Nortel Networks on Thursday announced the successful test of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) high-speed wireless data network in a moving car, according to a new update. Tested on a highway in Bonn, Germany in a vehicle moving at an average speed of 42mph, the upcoming LTE network achieved 170Mbps download speeds and 50Mbps upload speeds. Throughout the trip, the car was in range of three cell sites. [full story]

September 10 - 4:35pm EDT   The Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology that promises to offer wireless transfer speeds as fast as 100Mbps has begun testing with Motorola and a number of wireless provider companies that include Verizon Wireless, a Wednesday report suggests. According to the report, Motorola Vietnam and head of technology for the company’s Asia division Ray Owen said the company will begin introducing commercial products that take advantage of the technology in 2009. [full story]

August 31 - 1:50pm EDT   Both Bell Canada and Telus are on the verge of altering the Canadian cellular landscape by announcing a move to the same 3G cellular network type as Rogers, according to tips from alleged sources of the Financial Post. The newspaper believes the two rivals will reveal an upgrade from CDMA and EVDO-based networks to HSPA as early as this coming week and mutually rely on Nokia Siemens Networks to replace their existing network infrastructure over the space of a year. Neither would incorporate hardware for GSM both to shed legacy costs as well as to avoid compensating Rogers for roaming fees when customers are in areas not served by either Bell or Telus. [full story]

August 11 - 2:55pm EDT   MetroPCS will use the same fourth-generation (4G) cellular data access as larger carriers, the company has revealed while discussing its latest quarterly results. Though small, the provider says it will switch its network from its existing CDMA format to the same Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard that will be used by AT&T, Verizon and the latter's recent buyout target Alltel. [full story]

July 16 - 4:25pm EDT   Aircell, which will offer Wi-Fi access on airplanes while in flight via its Gogo service, today announced it would base its second generation of the service on the 4G Long Term Evolution data network. When the service goes live later on this year, it will use CDMA EVDO Rev A for data transfer during flights, topping out at more than 12 Mbps. By the end of 2009, Aircell plans to up that number to 22.7 Mbps with advances in its current technology. When the company incorporates the 4G LTE network in 2011, throughput speeds will jump to 300 Mbps, Aircell promises. [full story]

July 9 - 3:05pm EDT   Although fourth-generation (4G) cellular wireless still has yet to hold its own, the South Korean government is already developing 5G access that may be ready soon after 4G services go live, the country's officials say (registration required). The country hopes to invest money equal to $58.4 million over the next three years into both advancing 4G access and to starting work on 5G at the same time. Doing so is said to hopefully make the Asian country the top-ranked cellphone producer in the world by setting a 4G standard and becoming the primary source of 4G on the planet. [full story]

June 19 - 2:40pm EDT   Sprint's next wave of cities to receive its Xohm WiMAX service after Baltimore will focus primarily on Texas and the northeast, the carrier is telling interested customers. In addition to extra launches planned for Chicago and Washington DC, the 4G service should be available in Boston, Philadelphia, and Providence in the New England area as well as its first southern effort in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. [full story]

June 18 - 4:10pm EDT   Sprint's long-delayed full rollout of its Xohm WiMAX Internet service should start in September, company chief technical officer Barry West said Wednesday at the WiMAX Forum's Global Congress event. The executive now claims that the 4G-class wireless network will start its normal, paid business in September with a first run in Baltimore; Chicago and Washington DC, which have also participated in early trials, will see their networks opened to the public sometime in the fall. Other cities should come soon after, West says. [full story]

June 10 - 2:10pm EDT   Apple's decision to allow subsidized prices for the iPhone 3G is an admission that it needs to follow the traditional cellphone provider model, Verizon's chief operating officer Denny Strigl claimed at the second day of the Deutsche Bank Conference. The executive downplays the impact of the new cellphone on his own company and contends that Apple and AT&T are simply learning to accept a conventional practice that discounts the phone's up-front price rather than insist on splitting monthly phone revenues. [full story]

June 5 - 10:35am EDT   Quickly following up on earlier confirmations by its partner Vodafone, Verizon on Thursday said it would buy out Alltel in a cash merger with a total value of about $28.1 billion. The deal is mutually agreed upon and should see the union take place by the end of the year following approvals from the US government; Alltel chief Scott Ford will continue to run Alltel until the deal is completed. [full story]

June 4 - 4:30pm EDT   The American cellular industry may consolidate once again with a potential Verizon buyout of Alltel, CNBC claims. Referring to anonymous sources said to be aware of the deal, the TV news network asserts that Verizon would pay as much as eight times Alltel's pre-interest, pre-tax earnings, or $27 billion, for the acquisition. The deal would be a friendly takeover as Goldman Sachs and TPG, the financial institutions that took Alltel into private holding just last year, are eager to turn a premium no matter how small. [full story]

May 22 - 3:50pm EDT   Apple may be exploring known wireless technologies which are nevertheless outside of its current roadmap, a job listing suggests. The company is hunting for a senior RF system engineer to staff its offices in Santa Clara, California, who will help build products currently planned with wireless, and additionally investigate new technologies as they present themselves. Critically, the ideal canadidate would not only know 802.11 Wi-Fi, but "Bluetooth, 3G, UWB, WiMAX, GPS, Mobile TV and similar wireless technologies." [full story]

May 15 - 2:05pm EDT   Alltel will use Long Term Evolution (LTE) for its next-generation phone network, according to statements made during a conference call discussing the provider's latest financial results. Company chief Scott Ford explained that the technology is Alltel's pick and that LTE will have a "significant" installed base for the company's cellular network within the next three to five years. Ford doesn't say when Alltel will start its rollout, but notes that there is no short-term budget and that nothing will be underway until at least 2009. [full story]

May 14 - 8:45am EDT   AT&T's cellular Internet access will be more than five times faster in 2009 than it is this year, the company's mobility chief Ralph de la Vega said today at Morgan Stanley's annual Communications Conference. The executive says that the company's HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network will be improved from the theoretical peak downloads of 3.6 megabits per second common across most of the network today to about 20 megabits per second in 2009. [full story]

April 3 - 10:35pm EDT   Verizon will use its recent 700MHz wins to setup a nationwide 4G cellular network, the company declared tonight. A lift of the FCC's ban on discussing the 700MHz auction results reveals that the telecoms firm will introduce a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network on its share of the frequency, providing much faster Internet access than the carrier's existing 3G, EVDO Revision A-based network. [full story]