First LTE device from LG gets FCC greenlight
updated 02:50 pm EDT, Thu March 19, 2009
LTE handset from LG at FCC
What is believed to be the very first device with support for the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) data standard has been approved by the FCC for use in North America on Tuesday, according to the US regulator's documents. No photos were included in the FCC documents, as LG requested them to be kept confidential, at least for the short-term. Other information is scarce as well, with the only real hard piece of specifications being that the device, which is not guaranteed to be a phone but perhaps a data device only, will operate using only on the 1,700MHz AWS frequency.
The next generation 4G network based on the LTE standard is expected to be introduced in 2010, with providers such as Verizon already testing it and reportedly reaching download speeds of between 50Mbps and 60Mbps, an improvement of 20-fold over current 3G EVDO Revision A services. Nokia has committed to releasing 4G-capable phones by next year, and there have been rumors of the provider and hardware manufacturer on teaming up to create a 4G handset and service meant to eat away at Apple's iPhone smartphone share. [via PhoneScoop]
