TORONTO, Oct. 27, 2011 /CNW/ - This week, Rogers Communications Inc. activated the first Long Term Evolution (LTE) smartphones in Canada. The first Samsung Galaxy S II™ LTE smartphones, a Rogers exclusive device, were shipped on Tuesday to the first customers on the company's national reservation system.

Operating on Rogers LTE, the largest LTE network in Canada, customers using the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE will get speeds similar to broadband connections making it easier for people to use their devices to download apps, stream HD videos and music or play online games, with virtually no delays or buffering.

"We're thrilled to offer this great new LTE Samsung smartphone to our customers first," said John Boynton, Rogers Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. "We were the first to bring LTE to Canada and now first to offer this sought-after device to our customers. More than a thousand people have signed up for it and we look forward to fulfilling all of their orders in the coming days."

The Samsung Galaxy S II LTE offers AWS for connectivity on the Rogers LTE network, a Tri-band HSPA+/Quad-band EDGE for connectivity on the Rogers 4G HSPA+ network and international roaming, a 4.5" WVGA Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen (480x800), a 8MP rear camera with flash, 2MP front facing camera, Dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, Android 2.3 operating system,1GB RAM and 16GB internal memory.

In addition to the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE smartphone, Rogers offers the exclusive HTC Jetstream™ LTE tablet, the fastest tablet in Canada and the Rogers LTE Rocket™ stick (Sierra Wireless AirCard ® 313U) .The LTE Rocket™ mobile hotspot (Sierra Wireless AirCard ® 754S) will be available in the coming weeks and can be reserved using the Rogers Reservation System at www.rogers.com/lte.

Expanding upon Canada's first LTE launch in Ottawa in the summer followed by Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver last month, more than 5.5 million Canadians now have access to the world's fastest wireless network technology.

This year, Rogers will have LTE devices capable of maximum theoretical download speeds of up to 100 Mbps. Today, devices are capable of downloading up to 75 Mbps and Rogers LTE customers are experiencing typical download speeds ranging from 12 Mbps to 25 Mbps. These speeds are significantly faster than experienced on any other Canadian 4G HSPA+ wireless network. As device selection evolves, customers will be able to take advantage of the full potential of the Rogers LTE network and maximum theoretical download speeds will increase to up to 150 Mbps.

Canadians can learn more about Rogers' LTE network and device pricing by visiting www.rogers.com/lte. To find out when LTE is coming to your area, sign up at www.IwantmyLTE.ca.