Yet again, for some reason, AT&T has the honor of being the first choice for a new mobile initiative.
So even though it is consistently ranked the worst in customer satisfaction and call quality, AT&T has been chosen to be the provider for the flagship LTE-powered Windows Phone device.
LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is the 4G standard that was first adopted by Verizon and has come to be the universal infrastructure for high-speed mobile data. Companies like AT&T and Sprint are now upgrading their existing 4G networks to be powered by LTE.
AT&T has the second most robust LTE network, behind Verizon, and according to a report on Winsupersite.com, within the next six months a Windows Phone device will go live on that network.
Details on what the phone would be, or what manufacturer would be providing it were not included, but those details are ancillary to the bigger idea that Microsoft and AT&T most likely hashed out some sort of deal.
AT&T was the only carrier mentioned in the report, completely disregarding Verizon’s LTE position and also overlooking the fact that Sprint will have a fully functional LTE infrastructure in place next year as well.
For some reason, AT&T manages to nab a bunch of these deals, whether it’s providing Kindle 3G access, becoming the first to offer a Blackberry 7 phone, or scoring an exclusive partnership with the Playstation Vita. The carrier must either have some of the smoothest talking executives in the business, or a willingness to shill out more financial incentives than its competitors.
