T-Mobile US to Rollout HSPA+ 3G to 100 Markets in 2010 [Speeds up to 21Mbps Will Blow Away Current 3G, WiMAX, & Early LTE Networks]

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During its press event today at CTIA, T-Mobile USA announced that it will be rolling out HSPA+ to a large portion of its 3G network by the end of 2010. The HSPA+ upgrade will boost speeds on T-Mobile’s 3G network to a staggering 21 Mbps which is more than three times faster than current 3G speeds and almost twice as fast as Verizon Wireless’ projected 12Mbps speed for its developing 4G LTE network which is slated for launch in 2011. T-Mobile expects to blanket most of its current 3G network with HSPA+, covering over 100 metropolitan areas and 185 million people. If successful, T-Mobile, at least on paper, may be able to claim the title as the wireless carrier with the fastest 3G network in the U.S.

As the last US carrier to rollout a 3G network, T-Mobile over the past several years has dumped a large amount of cash into developing and extending its 3G reach. Rather than begin the costly procedure of  building out yet another wireless data network to provide a 4G technology like LTE or WiMAX in the future, T-Mobile has decided to deploy this HSPA+ upgrade as a stopgap measure to provide faster 3G speeds to its customers now.

This upgrade is relatively inexpensive, easy to deploy, and requires only a software patch and some expanded backhaul capacity to achieve these heightened speeds. As a side bonus of applying merely an update which is backwards compatible with current 3G technology, T-Mobile customers will be able to use their current hardware on the carrier’s soon-to-be faster 3G network.

Putting its money where its mouth is, T-Mobile at CTIA today demonstrated its HSPA+ network using a variety of old and new devices including  the newly announced T-Mobile webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick which is the first HSPA+ device to land at a national U.S. carrier, the newly announced and T-Mobile-subsidized Dell Inspiron Mini 10, the recently launched HTC HD2, the Android-powered Motorola CLIQ XT and the now seven month old T-Mobile myTouch 3G.