Globe and Smart iPhone 5 LTE issue

I was a bit surprised when Smart Communications announced a pair of LTE enabled handsets, the Sony Xperia V and ZTE T82, and the Apple iPhone 5 was not included. Two days later Globe Telecom announced it first LTE handset, the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE and mentioned that it would be releasing the ZTE T82 and Samsung Galaxy S III LTE soon. Again, no mention of LTE on the iPhone 5. Perplexed, I reached out to Abe Olandres (aka Yugatech) on Twitter, and got the answer.

So this is the scoop. Globe Telecom and Smart Communications cannot decide whether or not to enable LTE on an iPhone 5. Apple will conduct its own tests on an LTE network and will be the one to decide whether or not to enable LTE services on iPhones and iPads for customers of that company.

The Apple iPhone 5 will ship with LTE disabled, and if Apple certifies a network, than it will enable LTE on iPhones on the network with a software update. So basically, Apple will be the one to decide, when and if Globe or Smart will be offering LTE enabled iPhone 5's.

A little bit over reaching on Apple's part if you asked me. But that is the way it is.