AT&T is reportedly carrying out test and trials of its upgraded 3G network in two markets. The telecommunications giant wants to expand the upgrades, once it completes the trials, across the whole country, said a company executive quoted by Telephony Online. 

 

AT&T is trying to double the capacity if its 3G networks with the use of software upgrade to squeeze the lemon one more time before moving to evolved 3G and probably 4G. 

 

The company, the largest telecommunications provider in the country, will upgrade its HSPA network to provide peak download speeds of about 3.6Mbps, said Scott McElroy, AT&T Mobility vice president of technology realization. The current AT&T technology has download links speeds of 1.7, although in real world the data speeds are somewhere around 700 Kbps. Migrating to the 3G networks to evolved HSPA or HSPA+ could actually triple peak download speeds.  HSPA can support up 14.4 Mb/s of capacity over a 5-MHz downlink, theoretically. 

 

AT&T plans to deploy the 4G wireless network using Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. Tests are scheduled for later this year and the implementation of the new technology and the 4G network was scheduled for 2010 at the earliest. 

 

AT&T’s net profit for the first quarter of this fiscal year fell 9.7 percent. It’s not good, but its certainly better compared to the Wall Street forecasts.