December 2, 2004
Cingular Wireless has announced plans to begin deploying high-speed wireless broadband service in a number of major urban areas next year. Cingular's recent acquisition of AT&T Wireless provided it with the spectrum necessary to roll out the service.
Cingular said that Nokia, Motorola and LG will provide equipment to access its so-called third-generation -- or 3G -- service, which it expects to offer in most major markets by the end of 2006.
Cingular also signed an agreement with Nokia to enhance its existing network and possibly support the deployment of its 3G network.
In addition to the 3G roll-out, which uses a technology called UMTS, Cingular is working with Lucent to deploy an even higher-speed data service known as High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), which offers theoretical speeds as high as 14.4 Mbps.
Currently, Cingular offers "EDGE" service, providing data connection speeds up to 135 kilobits per second depending on the device used. UMTS delivers typical speeds in the 400 Kbps to 700 Kbps range. EDGE is available to over 260 million people in more than 8,500 cities and towns, and in areas along 30,000 miles of interstate highways.
Cingular said in a statement that the combination of UMTS and HSDPA will enable it to offer a mix of wireless data services such as multimedia and multi-player games for consumers and mobile wireless broadband for enterprises.
Earlier this year, AT&T Wireless launched the country's first commercial UMTS wireless networks in Dallas, Detroit, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. Cingular will continue to offer UMTS services in those six markets.
