Apple to Expand LTE Support to 36 Additional Carriers in Several Countries

iphone 5 black whiteDuring today's Financial Results call, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that 36 additional carriers will be providing LTE connectivity for the iPhone and the iPad next week.

"Next week," said Tim Cook, "we're adding 36 more carriers for LTE support. These carriers will be in countries that we are not currently supporting LTE."

While Cook did not name all 36 carriers that would be getting LTE, he did mention that they are in regions like Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, the Philippines, and the Middle East. Currently, 24 carriers offer LTE for the iPhone and the iPad, in countries like the United States, Australia, South Korea, the U.K., Germany, Canada, and Japan.

Apple has been slow to roll out LTE connectivity, leading to complaints over the "4G" in the third generation iPad's name when it was released. Apple later changed it to the iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular in response.

When asked if the slow pace of LTE rollouts has had an impact on iPhone sales, Cook skirted the question, but he did mention the plans to roll out LTE in the aforementioned countries during the next week, and had this to say: "We feel really good about the situation we are in, particularly with these adds next week."

Popular Stories

CarPlay Hero

Apple Releases Wireless CarPlay Fix

Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
If you have been experiencing issues with wireless CarPlay in your vehicle lately, it was likely due to a software bug that has now been fixed. Apple released iOS 18.4.1 today, and the update's release notes say it "addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles." If wireless CarPlay was acting up for you, updating your iPhone to iOS 18.4.1 should...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Triad

Apple's 20th Anniversary iPhone May Finally Go All Screen

Tuesday April 15, 2025 6:31 am PDT by
Apple is preparing a "bold" new iPhone Pro model for the iPhone's 20th anniversary in 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As part of what's being described as a "major shake-up," Apple is said to be developing a design that makes more extensive use of glass – and this could point directly to the display itself. Here's the case for Apple releasing a truly all-screen iPhone with no...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday April 15, 2025 7:37 am PDT by
The first iOS 19 beta is less than two months away, and there are already a handful of new features that are expected with the update. Apple should release the first iOS 19 beta to developers immediately following the WWDC 2025 keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 9. Following beta testing, the update should be released to the general public in September. Below, we recap the key...
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.4.1 With Bug Fixes

Wednesday April 16, 2025 10:11 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that came out last September. iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1 come two weeks after the launch of iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. There have been complaints about ...
tvOS 18 Thumb 1

Apple Releases tvOS 18.4.1

Wednesday April 16, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released tvOS 18.4.1, a minor update to the tvOS 18 operating system that came out last September. tvOS 18.4.1 comes two weeks after Apple released tvOS 18.4, and it is available for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD models. tvOS 18.4.1 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the ‌Apple TV‌. Open up Settings and go to System > Software Update to get the new software....
iPhone Security Feature 25

Five iPhone Security Features You Should Be Using

Wednesday April 16, 2025 4:15 pm PDT by
Apple has quite a few security features that it's added to iPhones, iPads, and Macs over the years. Now more than ever, it's important to make sure you're taking advantage of the built-in security tools that are available to keep yourself and your data safe, so we've rounded up a list of the most important options. If you don't already have these enabled, you might want to consider turning...

Top Rated Comments

mrsir2009 Avatar
160 months ago
LTE requires new base stations. Not likely, with < 10.000.000 people in sweden.

Well New Zealand only has 4 million people, less than half that of Sweden, and our no.1 carrier is beginning work on a 4G LTE network: http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/mobile/ournetwork/buildinga4gfuture/ (http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/mobile/ournetwork/buildinga4gfuture/)
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
quaresma Avatar
160 months ago
LTE requires new base stations. Not likely, with < 10.000.000 people in sweden.
LOL what are you talking about? Denmark has a population of 5.500.000 and yet we get LTE support next week.

You can't base LTE support on population count
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
filip20 Avatar
160 months ago
LTE requires new base stations. Not likely, with < 10.000.000 people in sweden.

What are you talking about? Sweden already have 4G (LTE) and was the first country in the world with a commercial 4G network.

Sweden has ≈ 21 people per square kilometre, and denmark has 130 people per square kilometre.

The absolute majority lives in southern Sweden.

Denmark has how many fjords (difficult locations)?

Are you high or just retarded?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MathijsDelva Avatar
160 months ago
To all the people who are suprised Apple is enabling LTE support (through carrier settings): i take it you are mostly Americans? There are countless, literally, countless threads here on MacRumours and Apple Disccusions about this issue. The whole world is pissed at Apple for this: we buy an unlocked phone (which means: hardware you can use freely on any sort of system, network, ...) yet somehow, Apple is deliberately blocking software LTE support in at least 36 countries (with probably loads more). Our main LTE carrier in Belgium has been trying to get LTE supported (which is insane, since they use the correct band) through Apple for about 4 months now, without any reaction..
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wschutz Avatar
160 months ago
LTE requires new base stations. Not likely, with < 10.000.000 people in sweden.

Maybe if you had done your research before opening that big mouth you would know that Sweden was the first country in the world (with Norway) to have LTE...

That Apple doesn't support the bands used in some countries it doesn't mean these countries don't have LTE (moreover... you wish you had the quality of internet Swedish have... and also the price), but hey... no hard feelings.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Northgrove Avatar
160 months ago
Still no Sweden :(
LTE requires new base stations. Not likely, with < 10.000.000 people in sweden.
Swedish Telenor and Tele2 have just started trial runs on the 1800 MHz band supported by the iPhone 5 in order to bring LTE support to Sweden. This actually hit the news yesterday. The coincidence with Cook's tease here about expansions to new countries lines up with Sweden's latest trials, and I think Swedish Tele2 and Telenor will be among the countries/carriers officially added, possibly with the final release of iOS 6.1 or iOS 7. (they have told media that a software update to iPhone and iPad will still be necessary despite the carriers technically supporting the bandwidth in the future)

An initiative like this is no doubt made in cooperation with, or at least with endorsement by, Apple. I think there's no way they would go through this otherwise, due to how popular Android devices already support LTE in Sweden via the 800 MHz band.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)