AT&T hints at big news to be announced July 16

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) notified members of the media yesterday that it will be announcing news on July 16. The email teaser invited us to "Get ready for what's next in wireless" on July 16 and included a bunch of testimonials about the company's LTE network.

Although there was little detail about what the July 16 announcement will entail, an AT&T spokesman said the company will not be hosting an event, just making an announcement. Because of the testimonials about AT&T's network, it's likely the news will involve the operator's network. AT&T has said it will deploy LTE Advanced this year and carrier aggregation, which is one component of LTE Advanced, is top-of-mind for the company.

In an interview late last year, Kris Rinne, executive vice president of network technology at AT&T Labs, said the company will first deploy carrier aggregation in the 700 MHz and AWS spectrum and then in the 700 MHz and 1900 MHz.

Of course, AT&T isn't the only U.S. operator moving to LTE Advanced. Last month, Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) announced that its LTE network is now "substantially" complete, covering more than 99 percent of its 3G footprint. In addition, the company's chief network officer, Nicola Palmer, confidently said Verizon will lead in LTE Advanced and will likely deploy carrier aggregation "where we need it and when we need it."

For more:
- see this CNET article
- see this AllThingsD post

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