Canadian carrier Rogers will be expanding their LTE network to a bunch of new markets before the end of 2012 in the hopes of covering 60% of the Canadian population in 4G-ish goodness. Rogers promises to launch the Sony Xperia Ion sometime this summer to celebrate the expansion. Here’s the full list of new coverage areas:
- Abbotsford
- Ajax
- Barrie
- Burlington
- Cambridge
- Edmonton
- Guelph
- Hamilton
- Kelowna
- Kingston
- Kitchener
- London
- Moncton
- Niagara
- Oakville
- Oshawa
- Pickering
- Regina
- Saskatoon
- Sherbrooke
- St. Catherines
- Sudbury
- Waterloo
- Windsor
- Winnipeg
- Trois-Rivières
- Quebec City
- Victoria
Rogers kicked off LTE in Canada last fall starting with Ottawa, and has since expanded to Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Halifax, and St. John’s. Of course, big-name competitors like TELUS and Bell have also launched their shared LTE network, leaving the little regional guys like WIND and Mobilicity to make do with HSPA+. Data isn’t that expensive up here anymore – $35/month for 2 GB isn’t that bad at all. Of course, you still have to deal with 3-year contracts to get those rates.
That’s a monster of a list of new cities, and combined with the major metropolitan centres already covered, this will put pressure on other carriers to expand. Any Canadians happy to see LTE coming to their town? Any LTE-capable Rogers devices you’re itching to get your mitts on?
Source: Rogers RedBoard