The roll out in Canada’s major cities is a significant development for the company and the country, considering its main competitor Telus will launch LTE for the first time next year. Rogers trialled LTE in Ottawa and Montreal last year after acquiring Advanced Wireless Services spectrum in an auction in 2008, and initially will use this spectrum before deploying the network in multiple bands. Ericsson has been selected as the commercial supplier for the project.
As the world, particularly Canada’s US neighbours and its global competitors are continually developing LTE networks, Nadir Mohamed, president and CEO at Rogers said the company was “investing substantially to drive Canada’s digital economy”.
“LTE is the critical foundation to deliver a world increasingly being defined by connected experiences,” he said. “LTE is the fuel that will power Canadian innovation for years to come.”
Rogers believes LTE will offer a significant improvement on its present HSPA+ network, with customers able to experience significantly lower latency in using applications and user speeds that are up to four times faster than what they are experiencing now. At peak, the company says its new network could reach up to 150Mbps in download rates and upload speeds of up to 70Mbps. The Canadian market is dominated by three players, including Telus and Bell Canada, with a combined market share of approximately 95%. The companies are expected to compete aggressively to acquire spectrum in Canada’s pending 700MHz auction in 2012.
