This week, Rogers let us know about their ambitions to begin the first LTE technical trial in Canada. LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is essentially the term for “4G” network that people loosely throw around.
LTE is essentially supposed to deliver a theoretical high speed network of up to 150Mbps.
The first trial by Rogers is to begin in Ottawa in cooperation with Ericsson Canada. While Rogers was the first wireless carrier in North America to deliver up to 21Mbps data speeds, they are now also claiming to be the first Canadian carrier to run LTE trials.
But it seems that Rogers may be getting ahead of themselves.
According to a report by MobileSyrup, it would seem that it was Bell, not Rogers, who has been testing LTE first in Canada. Speaking to Julie Smithers of Bell Media Relations, Bell has reportedly been testing LTE since summer 2010 and has placed successful data calls in both of their LTE test locations in Hamilton and Montreal.
Like Rogers, Bell is also working with Ericsson Canada but is planning to begin additional tests with Nokia Siemens Networks. When asked about the launch of LTE in Canada, Bell has indicated that no Canadian carrier will launch LTE until at least 2012.
So who was working with LTE first, Rogers or Bell? Looks like this may get personal!
