Rogers to launch fastest cellular network in North America

Canadian telecommunications giant, Rogers, announced today that it plans to roll-out its revamped cellular network which will offer data speeds of up to 21 Megabits per second (Mbps). The update will replace the 3.5 G network in select cities which offers speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps. The service will be available to Rogers Wireless subscribers initially in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver.

The press release stated that Rogers was the first telecommunications company to offer a 21 Mbps High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) network in North America, which will triple data speeds of Canada's cellular networks. However, the new high speed network will initially only be availalble to Canada's largest cities, while the rest of the country will be able to access the HSPA+ network in the coming months. 

Smartphone users on the Rogers network will especially see a jump in data transfer speeds on Internet-ready devices such as the Blackberry and iPhone. The HSPA+ update announcement arrives in tandem with the company's ongoing promotion of its USB Internet Stick which allows consumers to insert the modem into a laptop or PC and surf the web using the cellular network. 

Technology blog, Electronista, revealed that U.S. cellular companies plan to launch a similar high speed network in 2010, while some are currently offering speeds of up to 10 Mbps.