Unstrung reports that T-Mobile is pushing industry development of LTE technology and would prefer to make a speedy move to the future next-generation communications standard than invest in HSPA Evolution (also known as HSPA Evolved and HSPA+) kit. “If I need to invest into more hardware, I think it’s better to start early [with LTE]. LTE is a more future-oriented technology,” Unstrung cites the operator’s CTO, Joachim Horn, as stating. “We’ll deploy HSPA as long as there is no hardware replacement necessary… we’ll do every other efficiency increase that’s software-based.” HSPA Evolution technology is regarded as an enhancement of existing HSPA networks but, because it requires hardware changes (MIMO antennas), Unstrung claims that T-Mobile has effectively opted out of HSPA Evolution deployment and committed itself to a direct move to LTE.

T-Mobile’s reported strategy would conflict with Australia’s Telstra, which last month announced its HSPA Evolution network is on track for a world-first deployment by the end of the year, with peak downlink speeds of up to 21 Mb/s (from 14.4 Mb/s today). A number of other operators worldwide have also expressed interest in the technology. Meanwhile LTE is regarded as the next move on from the HSPA family of technologies. Touted for commercial rollout no earlier than 2010, it has recently received commitment from high-profile operators such as China Mobile, Verizon, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone. Vendors such as Nortel, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson have also been talking up their LTE equipment prospects this year.