T-Mobile offers faster wireless

T-Mobile USA Inc. of Bellevue, the nation's fourth-largest cellular carrier, said it has begun offering a new wireless voice-and-data network in New York, with plans to extend the service to major urban markets throughout the year.

T-Mobile, the last of the four carriers to implement a network of this speed, said its so-called 3G network will be available in Seattle between Oct. 1 and the year's end.

The new network uses technology called UMTS, or Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, which downloads data at up to 300 kilobits per second. That's up to four times faster than T-Mobile's current technology. And handsets due for release in the third quarter will be able to use an even faster technology, HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), which operates up to 600 kbps.

By comparison, cable modems download 460 to 1,000 kbps. Faster connections mean Web pages load faster and documents can be sent or received more quickly. Upload speeds are typically slower than download speeds.

UMTS already can be used on four T-Mobile phones that went on sale last year: Nokia's 3555 and 6263 and Samsung's t819 and t639.

UMTS and HSDPA are upgrades from the current network, which is only one-third to one-quarter as fast as UMTS, said Neville Ray, T-Mobile USA's senior vice president of engineering and operations.

Though BlackBerry smart phones are an important part of T-Mobile's lineup, models with HSDPA likely won't be available until next year, Ray said. The new network can't use current HSDPA phones sold by AT&T or imported from overseas because it uses a different slice of the airwaves, or spectrum, for its 3G service.

UMTS has been used in Europe for several years, Ray said. Creating T-Mobile's new network took time, because incumbents on the spectrum bought by T-Mobile required "long discussions" before they vacated it, Ray said.

"It's been a tough road, but they've been very cooperative in recent months," Ray said. The speed of the rollout of 3G to other cities is now more dependent on how fast the company can get new equipment up and running, he added.

T-Mobile USA had 28.7 million subscribers at the end of 2007. It's due to announce new subscriber numbers and quarterly earnings Thursday.

In related news, T-Mobile USA's parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG, reportedly is investigating a bid to buy Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation's third-largest cellular carrier.

The Wall Street Journal, quoting unidentified people familiar with the situation, reported Monday that deliberations between Deutsche Telekom and Sprint Nextel are at "a preliminary stage and management may very well turn away."

Such a deal would catapult T-Mobile USA to the top spot in the U.S. market, though the two companies use different technology. Sprint Nextel spokeswoman Leigh Horner said the company had no comment when The Associated Press asked about the deal. Ray also had no comment Monday.

source : http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/