That pretty much settles it: Telus hiring LTE engineers
We still don't know whether Telus will be so hasty as to decommission its existing CDMA network in favor of UMTS / HSPA ahead of the long road to 4G, but it any rate, it looks like the Canadian carrier's next-gen technology of choice is darn near locked up. A job listing for a Senior Switch Engineer details CDMA and EV-DO experience as part of its requirements, naturally -- but here's where it gets interesting: they want "knowledge on UMTS, IMS, and LTE evolution" as well, without any mention of UMB or WiMAX to be found. In other words, if we wait around long enough, we'll be able to call Telus a GSM carrier, which should make the Rogers monolith just a little uneasy.[Thanks, Justin Y.]
Filed under: Telus Mobility, GSM, LTE
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
athousandleaves @ Feb 20th 2008 5:15PM
Keep up with the Canadian telecom news!
whoo!
Telus Sucks!
Matt S @ Feb 20th 2008 6:05PM
GSM? I thought LTE was a step above gsm and hsdpa.. you dont see verizon converting to gsm to go to LTE do you? why would telus do the same?
ToyandMe @ Feb 20th 2008 6:11PM
Telus might want to test the water on the west coast when Vancouver hosts the next Olympics. Imagine the number of visitors that will bring in their GSM phones and who will pay huge roaming fees...
Gib @ Feb 20th 2008 7:39PM
That is exactly what they are hoping for. Big $$ rolling in with the Olympics.
Sam Winter @ Feb 21st 2008 4:58AM
Who said they are converting to GSM?? I assume both they and Verizon will keep their CDMA tech for voice and just run LTE on top as the data half if that is possible. This would allow a good transition for all their customers with CDMA phones. I assume they'll be able to make dual mode CDMA/LTE phones.
If you are referring to:
"if we wait around long enough, we'll be able to call Telus a GSM carrier..."
They just mean Telus will be a "GSM carrier" in that they will be using technology which lies in the same upgrade "track" as GSM. You know, like how historically everyone was always grouped into either the CDMA camp or the GSM camp.
Will Static @ Feb 21st 2008 1:56PM
Well some very valid points but I do believe Telus is looking for more then just LTE... they appear to be headed for a hybrid network that would indeed support GSM standards, as for it being an expensive venture... not really so bad as they already have all the basic infrastructure and would be no worse then when Rogers went from TDMA to GSM... I really believe the key word here will be hybrid.
ToyandMe @ Feb 20th 2008 6:08PM
LTE can't get here fast enough.
Joel @ Feb 21st 2008 1:48AM
It'll take some serious investment on their part to get this done, though it's about time. Much of their coverage in western Canada right now is leased from Bell, so they'll need to do some construction of their own if they want to preserve their coverage outside of the big cities.
JD @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:15PM
"It'll take some serious investment on their part to get this done, though it's about time. Much of their coverage in western Canada right now is leased from Bell, so they'll need to do some construction of their own if they want to preserve their coverage outside of the big cities."
Actually, in the west it is Bell who roams on TELUS. Bell has very little native coverage west of Ontario...
Phil @ May 3rd 2008 2:28AM
Rogers & Apple just reached an agreement on April 28, 2008 to introduce iPhone sometime in 2008. Chances are a lot of Telus subscribers will ditch their CDMA phone in favour of the trendy iPhone, especially the young and fashionable population.
Australia’s largest cell company, Telstra has officially shut down their CDMA system today(April 30, 2008). Telstra runs 2 GSM based 3G system, one runs on 2100M Hz(the European & Asian frequency) and another called Next G, running on 850M Hz.(the North Amercian 3G frequency). Hats off to Telstra !
I think Telus management should take their heads out of the sand to get some fresh air once in a while - AND SMELL THE COFFEE(or ROSES). CDMA is on life support and nobody’s there to rescue them !