Rumor Mill: Verizon, AT&T testing LTE-enabled Nokia Lumia 800

Both Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) are testing LTE versions of Nokia's (NYSE:NOK) Lumia 800 smartphone running Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone software, according to a CNET report. 

Nokia Lumia 800

Click here for pictures and specs of Nokia's Lumia 800 and 710.

The report, citing unnamed sources, said the testing is going on despite the fact that the current version of Windows Phone 7.5, or Mango, does not support LTE. The report said that Nokia is looking to get carrier approval as quickly as possible and has been testing the LTE versions with the nation's two largest U.S. carriers to try and speed the process. However, the report cautioned that since carriers often test many devices, including ones they do not eventually bring to market, it's unclear whether the tests will result in commercial launches.

Representatives from Verizon, AT&T and Nokia declined to comment, according to CNET.

Nokia is widely expected to unveil its first U.S. Windows Phone device, the Lumia 710, with T-Mobile USA at an event in New York City Wednesday evening. However, Nokia has been coy about how it plans to approach the U.S. market other than to say it intends to focus on first-time smartphone buyers and will introduce CDMA and LTE devices early next year. 

AT&T confirmed last month it was in talks with Nokia on Windows Phone. "We look at every promotional period separately and decide what we're going to spend our dollars on and what we're going to put our efforts in," Glenn Lurie, president of AT&T's emerging devices unit, told Bloomberg in an interview during a conference organized by Morgan Stanley in Barcelona, Spain. "But nothing to announce there on that yet."

Verizon has not confirmed if it is in talks with Nokia, but has indicated that its support of Windows Phone is contingent on the platform adding LTE. Verizon has made LTE smartphones a key part of its sales pitch this year.

For more:
- see this CNET article

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