Hasta La Gadget!

Huawei hinted last week that the Ascend P1 LTE would travel beyond British shores; it just didn’t say where. Based on a new FCC filing, North America is sounding like a good (if very broad) destination. The regulator has cleared a version of the Android 4.0 hardware packing AT&T-friendly 700MHz LTE frequencies as well as AWS support that could suit it to Canadian LTE providers and future T-Mobile deployments. We’ve likewise noticed AWS-based 3G join the usual 850MHz and 1,900MHz approvals for North American HSPA providers. With such broad coverage, it’s difficult to narrow down just the exact carriers that could embrace the Ascend P1 LTE if it launches on this side of the Atlantic. Whatever the choices, it’s clear that Huawei is hedging its bets.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, AT&T, T-Mobile

Huawei Ascend P1 LTE takes a tour through the FCC with AT&T-capable 4G and beyond originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apparently the “significant issues” that stood in the way of a prospective T-Mobile and MetroPCS deal couldn’t have been too onerous. Just a day after acknowledging that talks were underway both boards have approved the deal according to the Wall Street Journal. Details of the deal haven’t been officially announced yet, but Financial Times Deutschland are reporting that the two carriers will be combined into a single unit in which Deutsche Telekom will hold 74 percent of shares. MetroPCS will have a 26 percent stake in the company and receive a $1.5 billion check for its troubles. Expectations are that this will put the kibosh on a recent deal T-Mobile struck with Crown Castle to lease its mobile towers for $2.4 billion. The new larger carrier will maintain the T-Mobile branding with new CEO John Legere at the helm, though, it appears the deal is structured as a reverse merger. Meaning that MetroPCS is in essence taking over T-Mobile and not the other way around.

Even with its combined subscriber base, the new T-Mobile will lag Sprint in the battle for AT&T and Verizon’s table scraps. However, it will finally give Deutsche Telekom the graceful exit from the US market that its been so desperately seeking for some time. This merger with a much smaller competitor is unlikely to raise the ire of regulators and will allow the German company to reduce its involvement and investment in a slow controlled manner by selling off stocks. We’re still awaiting official announcements from both companies and will update as the statements roll in.

Update: Official PR from T-Mobile and a video statement from CEO Legere are now waiting for you after the break. There’s a few new interesting details, including that MetroPCS’s CFO will be holding on to his position post merger. Interestingly, even though the carriers will become one company, for the foreseeable future they will maintain separate pools of customers. However, we wouldn’t be surprised to see that change as the LTE rollout accelerates and gives T-Mobile a true 4G offering. As Legere notes in the clip below, this is just the first step and the deal isn’t expected to close until sometime during the first half of 2013.

Update 2: As part of the strategy moving forward the new company plans to move customers off MetroPCS’ CDMA network and on to T-Mobile’s GSM frequencies for 3G service by 2015. The spectrum would then be repurposed to build out an LTE network.

Continue reading Deutsche Telekom and MetroPCS agree on $1.5 billion T-Mobile merger (updated)

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, T-Mobile

Deutsche Telekom and MetroPCS agree on $1.5 billion T-Mobile merger (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the formal creation of Orange and T-Mobile’s LTE network lovechild, Everything Everywhere, the UK finally joined the horserace for 4G. Now, it looks like rival domestic operators could get a chance to play catch-up sooner than expected, according to a report from The Telegraph. It appears the mobile companies, having recently put to rest concerns over any potential “first mover advantage” that would see each party entering into litigation, have been freed up to bid in a spectrum auction set to take place in early January. And further speeding this next-gen rollout along, is Ofcom’s admission that those precious frequencies could be ready for use as soon as this coming May, allowing carriers to prep service for public consumption by mid-summer 2013 at the latest. All told, it’s good news for denizens of the British isles hankering for blazing wireless speeds and the LTE devices that love them. But as with all things commercial, we’d caution you to expect some regulatory bumps in the road to this rollout.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

UK carrier cooperation could see 4G LTE rollout ramp up by summer 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re a T-Mobile subscriber and you own the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G, today (or tomorrow) could be your lucky day as it would appear that the much awaited Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for your device will begin rolling out come 3^rd of October. There have been reports that has indicated that the update has already begun to roll out today, but we expect that today’s rollout could be a small one to get things started. If you are one of the lucky ones do let us know in the comments below, if not you can plug your device into your computer tomorrow and download the update via the Samsung Kies software.

Granted this isn’t the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update that we’re sure many Galaxy S Blaze 4G owners were hoping for, but we guess the bump from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich is still a welcome one. Your handset should be unrooted and running on Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread prior to the update, which will bump your phone up to the latest build of Ice Cream Sandwich – Android 4.0.4. Once you’ve done the update, be sure to let us know how the update is treating you!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G official Ice Cream Sandwich update in the works, Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G arrives on T-Mobile next week,

So we know that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will be launched on the four major US carriers along with US Cellular, but we guess there are those out there who have been eagerly keeping track of the “phablet” and well, you’re in luck as it seems that the different variations of the device have stopped by the FCC. Sprint’s and US Celluar’s versions of the handset were not spotted, but for those who were planning to get it on AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon’s network, model numbers SGH-i317, SGH-T889 and the SCH-i605 will be the ones you’ll want to keep an eye out for. The official launch for US will be taking place on the 24^th of October in New York although availability still remains a mystery. We expect that availability will vary from carrier to carrier, hopefully not by much, but either way if the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a device you’ve been eyeing, be sure to check back with us later for more updates.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Samsung Galaxy Note 2 headed for Verizon, and more [rumor], Samsung Galaxy S3 will be headed to five carriers in June,