In addition to Atlanta, Las Vegas and Portland, Sprint plans to deploy Sprint 4G service in these additional markets in 2009: Chicago, IL; Dallas, Ft. Worth, Philadelphia, PA; Austin, Texas; Abilene, Texas; Amarillo, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash.; Charlotte, N.C.; Corpus Christi, Texas; Greensboro, N.C.; Honolulu, HI; Killeen-Temple, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Maui, Hawaii; Midland-Odessa, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; Salem, Ore.; San Antonio, Texas; Seattle, WA: Waco, Texas; and Wichita Falls, Texas. In 2010, Sprint expects to launch service in multiple markets, including Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Sprint customers in Atlanta can start enjoying 4G today with the 3G/4G USB Modem U300, the first device from any wireless carrier to offer access to both 3G and 4G. For a special limited time 4G launch promotion, the device is currently free after a $50 mail-in rebate (excludes taxes) with a two year agreement. Sprint is currently offering new 4G/3G data plans for consumers at $69.99 monthly with unlimited 4G and 4G/3G data plans for businesses at $69.99 with unlimited 4G and unlimited 3G on the Sprint network. There is also a $10 day-pass availa ble for 24 hours 4G connection access.

[via slashgear]

“This is where the race to 4G begins. By building a joint network and sharing our spectrum we create a whole new playing field on the Swedish market, placing ourselves in pool position to provide high-speed mobile broadband with the best coverage and quality. Sharing this investment ensures cost-efficiency and enables a solid market position in the long run for Telenor in Sweden,” said Lars-Åke Norling, CEO Telenor Sweden.

Telenor and Tele2 will be equal partners in the joint venture. The agreement also comprises spectrum sharing in the 900MHz and 2600MHz frequency bands, creating superior conditions for a nation-wide 4G network in Sweden. The launch of high-speed mobile broadband services based on LTE-technology is expected in the end of 2010, or when mobile devices (modems) become available on the market.

Sprint has also several new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, a small-office-home-office broadband modem and a tri-mode phone.

“Sprint continues to lead the wireless industry by harnessing the power of WiMAX” said Todd Rowley, vice president of Sprint 4G. “The availability of Sprint 4G in more places this year and our aggressive expansion of Sprint 4G service demonstrates our commitment to provide 4G capabilities and devices nationwide for our business, consumer and government customers. These capabilities enable significantly enhanced performance and productivity for our customers.”

LG demonstrated the chip today at its Mobile Communication Technology Research Lab in Anyang, Korea, achieving wireless download speeds of 60 Mbps and upload speeds of 20 Mbps. The fastest phones currently on the market use HSDPA technology and download at a maximum speed of 7.6 Mbps.

The new modem chip is a 13 by 13 mm modem chip, perfectly sized for the next generation of slim-yet-powerful handsets. For its demonstration today, LG used a test terminal running Windows Mobile to play back high quality, on-demand video. In addition to this handset modem, LG is also developing the first preliminary LTE-based data card, which can replace the wireless cards currently used in computers.

“Now that LG has developed and tested the first 4G handset modem, a commercially viable LTE handset is on the horizon,” said Dr. Woo Hyun Paik, CTO of LG Electronics. “This latest breakthrough gives us a strong technology advantage that we will use to bolster our industry leadership.”

Mobile phone carriers have now built LTE test networks and are currently working on early stage handsets. The first LTE mobile phones will likely reach the market in 2010.

WiMAX is a 4G, IP-based broadband wireless technology that provides low-cost, multi-megabit speed and greater throughput for the mobile Internet era of video-rich content and bandwidth-intensive applications. It is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard.

To accomplish its goals, the OPA will form a WiMAX patent pool to help participating companies obtain access to patent licenses from patent owners at a predictable cost.

The patent pool will aggregate essential patent rights needed to implement the WiMAX standard as defined by the WiMAX Forum and the IEEE 802.16e standard. To help ensure product differentiation and interoperability at a more predictable cost, this approach will focus on providing a more competitive royalty structure by charging only for the features required to develop WiMAX products. The patent pool will incorporate a variety of royalty licensing solutions, including accounting for cross-licensing among individual members within the pool.

In addition to the formation of a WiMAX patent pool, the OPA will educate the WiMAX ecosystem about, and serve as a central resource for WiMAX intellectual property rights topics.

The OPA will issue a call for WiMAX essential patents for inclusion in its patent pool. An independent third-party reviewer will serve as the “patent referee” and will evaluate submitted patents to determine how essential they are to the WiMAX standard and WiMAX Forum profiles. While the OPA initially will focus its efforts on the WiMAX standard, it may work with other industry groups in the future.

French mobile phone users are getting better deals than British, German and Spanish subscribers as a result of cut-throat competition and regulatory pressure, according to a report.

The country is also already preparing for next-generation networks, known as 4G, and will allow users to benefit from connection speeds of almost 100 MB/s, by 2011-2012, compared with approximately 3.6 MB/s for current 3G networks.

France Telecom is also investing heavily in research and development, with a budget of €600 million allocated to 4,200 researchers and engineers. The presence of international companies that have chosen France to set up industrial or research facilities – including Motorola, Nortel, Hitachi, Texas Instruments and LG – demonstrates its attractiveness to the sector.

Source: Cellular-News, IT Pro | Photo credit: JupiterImages