Las Vegas , Nevada ( CNN ) -- AT & T , which has been late to the 4G race , announced detailed plans for its faster , fourth-generation network on Wednesday while showing its first 4G smartphones . The carrier has begun upgrading its network to a protocol with the awkward name of HSPA+ and that is faster than today 's 3G . That process will ramp up this year , said AT & T executives at a developers conference here during the Consumer Electronics Show . During the second half of the year , AT & T plans to begin rolling out a more advanced technology called Long-Term Evolution ( LTE ) , which is very similar to the 4G network Verizon Wireless launched late last year . Both protocols are expected to allow smartphone users to upload and download mobile Web data faster than current 3G networks . Executives for AT & T , the second-largest U.S. carrier by subscribers , were careful to distinguish between the two infrastructures because they believe that having both provides a technical edge . T-Mobile USA , which claims to have the nation 's largest 4G network , has only deployed HSPA+ . Verizon skipped over that technology in favor of the faster LTE . And Sprint Nextel uses something entirely different . AT & T says having both technologies in place lets users , when out of range of an LTE 4G network , fall back on the still-fast HSPA+ . AT & T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega boasted that as `` something our competitors will not be able to match . '' Yet , in an identity crisis that seems to plague the wireless industry , AT & T Marketing Chief David Christopher blurred the lines during his speech . Phones carrying the moniker `` 4G '' will have only the soon-to-be-dated HSPA+ . Christopher said the carrier 's `` blockbuster lineup of 4G tablets '' will be led by a touchscreen computer with HSPA+ from Samsung Electronics , which will come out in the spring or summer . A tablet with the faster LTE chip will debut in the second half of the year , he said . Unlike competitors , AT & T says it 's upgrading cellular sites that receive the most demand , rather than focusing on rollouts in entire cities . The other three major carriers launched 4G networks in piecemeal -- first rolling out the network , along with 4G laptop cards , and then releasing smartphones for them . Sprint and T-Mobile were without phones to take advantage of their speedier networks for months . Verizon has yet to unveil its 4G phones , but the company is expected to do so on Thursday . AT & T plans to release 20 devices with 4G , starting with HSPA+ phones in the next few months . LTE phones will come in the latter half of the year , around the same time as the launch of that network . Smartphone manufacturers Motorola Mobility , HTC and Samsung joined AT & T on the stage Wednesday to show their first few 4G phones for AT & T . `` AT & T is moving ahead so quickly with their 4G rollout , and we are part of that , '' said HTC CEO Peter Chou at the event . `` In this era of breakneck technology change , many people want more . '' J.K. Shin , Samsung 's mobile president , says the company will add another phone , called the Infuse 4G , to its Galaxy S lineup . The Android smartphone is very thin and has a 4.5-inch touchscreen -- larger than most rival models . It will also have an 8-megapixel camera on the back and another on the front . Motorola 's Atrix 4G phone will have a sure-to-be-fast dual-core processor inside , allowing it to pump out 1080p high-definition video through an HDMI port .
AT & T announces detailed plans for its faster , fourth-generation network at CES . AT & T has begun upgrading its network to a protocol faster than today 's 3G . The new technology will be able to deliver speeds of up to 10 Mbps ( mbps ) in the future.