It was at the end of last year when AT&T, one of the largest mobile telephone providers in the U.S., announced the acquisition of one of the largest carriers in Mexico, Iusacell. Shortly after, at the beginning of 2015, AT&T announced that they would also get another carrier called Nextel to reinforce their network system in that country. The networks of both carriers only supported HSPA+, but AT&T promised to offer 4G LTE connectivity, so they would have to invest some money to keep their goal of offering this type of connections to 40 million people by the end of 2015.
To show their commitment, they have announced that starting today the 4G LTE network will be available in six cities so that customers can surf the web, download or stream content and play online games at up to 6x faster speeds than 3G networks. It is available in the following cities: Atlacomulco in Estado de M©xico, Cuernavaca and Cuautla in Morelos, and Pachuca, Tepeji and Tulancingo in Hidalgo. Strangely, the new network is not yet available in Mexico’s capital, Mexico City, but since the company wants to expand this network to 75 million users (that’s two-thirds of Mexico’s population) by the end of 2016 and all of these cities surround the capital, it shouldn’t be too long before the network reaches this city. The company wants this network to be available for 100 million users by the year 2018.
The lower latency offered by LTE networks reduces the time it takes to make a request before the data starts downloading, so downloading a web page, mobile gaming and video calling will get benefitted. Users with one of AT&T’s Unidos con Todos wireless plans will be able to use this new network with their included data besides the benefits that each plan offer such as many minutes and messages. “The mobile internet in the United States created an engine of economic growth, and we believe it will do the same here in Mexico, this next-generation, high-speed mobile network empowers consumers and businesses to reach a new potential as they explore, discover and try new things.” said Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO of AT&T Mexico. The company currently offers a lot of phones compatible with 4G LTE networks, so the switch to the new network should happen fairly seamlessly.