As we reported earlier this month, a version of the HTC HD7 passed through the FCC with the 850MHz and 1900MHz bands suitable for AT&T 3G. Well AT&T happens to share the same 3G spectrum as three major Canadian carriers -- Rogers, Bell, and Telus -- and that very model PD29130 from the FCC also just received certification from the Canadian version of that body. Since Bell and Telus employ hybrid CDMA/GSM networks -- CDMA for voice and HSDPA for data -- and PD29130 seems to be a GSM-only handset, we suspect that it's destined for Roger's: a network which currently only offers a single Windows Phone 7 (Samsung Focus) along with a single HTC device (HTC Magic+). Notably, a version of the HD7 with the same bands (WCDMA II and V, to be specific) is reportedly scheduled to hit Australia's Telstra early next year.
So does this mean that PD29130 is one of those foreign devices which routinely pass the FCC without ever seeing a US release, i.e. is AT&T probably not getting the HD7? Well, maybe not: besides popping up in a Canadian database, this model also received Wi-Fi certification very recently -- along with a companion model called PD29150. Since both devices are listed on the same certificate, we imagine that they are almost identical -- i.e., probably not CDMA variations of the HD7 destined for Sprint or Verizon. Now, PD29150 hasn't yet shown up in either the US or Canadian regulatory databases, meaning that it could possibly be that Telstra variant Australian consumers are expecting, and not an AT&T-bound model. Right now all we can say with some certainty is that it is probably not the European HD7 (with 900MHz and 2100MHz 3G bands), as that device -- whatever its model number happens to be -- would have surely passed through the Wi-Fi Alliance months ago.
Update: Further research indicates that this handset would probably operate equally well on either Telus, Bell, or Rogers. We still think a Canadian release is likely, but we're not so sure about the carrier. Only Telus does WP7 HTC-style, with the HTC Surround.
Click here to view our HTC HD7 selling price.
Source