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Oct. 12, 2009

Lately, AT&T has got quite a bit of criticism regarding its network performance, especially concerning the rather heavy loads on its system caused by iPhone users.

AT&T is now saying it wants to fix any network problems while also getting ready for an expected onslaught of more wireless data.

There are several facts about the dramatic increase in AT&T's data usage in recent years, including a 5,000-percent growth over the last twelve quarters.

AT&T says that since the iPhone was introduced in July 2008, data usage has increased by a factor of about 18.

That increase is placing heavy loads not just on the radio network, but also on the backbone, where traffic is projected to grow by about 60 percent a year the wireless carrier said. AT&T is upgrading its backhaul with fiber and Ethernet to meet that growth and the growth that LTE technology will also bring.

For now, AT&T will focus mostly on HSPA technology, while looking forward to its planned commercial launch of LTE in 2011. The mobile service carrier will cover Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Charlotte and Miami with HSPA 7.2 by the end of 2009 and fully expects to cover 25 of the 30 largest markets by mid-2010.

About 90 percent of the United States will be covered by the end of 2011, AT&T said.

AT&T says it is the largest HSPA operator in the world, with 28.6 million subscribers or 21 percent of the global total. The company has 1,605 certified HSPA devices, with 595 supporting HSPA 7.2.

Since June of 2007, AT&T has invested $38 billion to enhance its networks and supporting infrastructure, which was unmatched by any other U.S. wireless carrier, according to AT&T.

Overall, one of the biggest challenges facing AT&T and other mobile operators is the wide number of handset platforms available to consumers. The carrier will try to minimize the impact that fragmentation has on user services by reducing the number of handset platforms it will support, although the company didn't disclose which ones it will support, and by using middleware to enable a write-once, use-anywhere experience.

AT&T's plans to have market trials of LTE in 2010 is still ongoing, the company reaffirmed, with commercial deployment starting in 2011.

Several other wireless carriers plan to launch LTE before that, with Verizon Wireless saying it will have a commercial launch in 2010 as well.

AT&T didn't mention HSPA+, which T-Mobile USA and some other mobile carriers have started to deploy. AT&T apparently will skip that technology in favor of jumping straight to LTE.

In the next few weeks, AT&T is expected to provide us with more details of its long-term plans as far as LTE is concerned.

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Source: AT&T.