AT&T, the world’s largest telecoms group, on Wednesday threw its weight behind the emerging Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology standard as the basis for its next generation 4G wireless network.

The announcement on Wednesday by Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive of AT&T’s wireless unit, means that the two largest US wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the joint venture between Verizon Communications and Britain’s Vodafone, are both now committed to LTE.