MetroPCS launches LTE in Las Vegas

Leave it to the little guys to lead in LTE deployments.
Regional wireless operator MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) this morning launched its LTE service in the Las Vegas area offering customers the chance to be the first to sample the technology in a commercial environment.
MetroPCS said the network, deployed through a previously announced agreement with Samsung Telecommunications America, covers the majority of its current footprint in the Las Vegas area and uses the same AWS-based of spectrum that the carrier is using for its CDMA2000 1x-based service. (A peek at the actual LTE coverage map may call into question the “majority” description.) The LTE network is currently using 5 x 5 spectrum channels, the minimum for LTE services, with the CDMA-based network continuing to use a 10 megahertz swath of spectrum.
The LTE network will initially support only data services with all voice traffic routed over the carrier’s CDMA network.
MetroPCS, which decided to forgo updating its CDMA network to EV-DO technology, was not advertising available network speeds, though the company’s COO Tom Keys said the carrier was comfortable with the spectrum it has set aside for the initial launch of the service. Verizon Wireless, which has announced plans to unveil LTE services in up to 30 markets by the end of the year, has said it expects customers to see network speeds of up to 12 megabits per second on the downlink with its offering.
Keys noted that the network uses common sites with its CDMA service and the carrier was able to leverage existing Ethernet backhaul facilities.
As for any difficulties in rolling out what is the first commercial LTE network in the United States, Keys said those issues were dealt with more than a year ago.
“We hit hurdles about 18 months ago when we first announced our plans and tried to get people to take us seriously,” Keys explained. “Back then we had only about 5 million customers and I think people did not think we had the resources to jump from 1x straight to a 4G technology.”
The LTE-enhanced service, like MetroPCS’ current stable of offerings, will not require a contract. Customers can select rate plans at a $55 or $60 per month price point, the main difference being the higher-priced plan includes access to the carrier’s MetroStudio content offering. Both plans include unlimited voice calling and text messaging using the carrier’s 1x network and access to the LTE network for data services.
The MetroStudio offering, which is powered by RealNetworks, provides access to multimedia content, downloadable ringtones and ringback tones, full-track downloads, and video content from NBC Universal, Black Entertainment Television and Univision.
MetroPCS also said it will provide a social networking and instant messaging aggregator application as well as an updated navigation service that will include voice-activated GPS and turn-by-turn directions.
All of these services will run on Samsung’s Craft device that includes a 3.3-inch active-matrix organic light-emitting diode touch screen, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2-megapixel camera and an embedded Wi-Fi radio. The device will retail for $300 after all rebates.
MetroPCS said it planned to unveil additional devices compatible with its LTE network, including an device powered by Google Inc.’s Android operating system, and that it was looking at tablet devices.