Back in October, the ITU declared that Mobile WiMax and LTE weren't technically "4G," and that no major wireless carrier was technically deploying 4G networks. According to the ITU, only technologies like LTE-Advanced, capable of speeds over 100 Mbps, could be considered 4G. Carriers almost gleefully ignored the declaration, T-Mobile arguing their HSPA+ build was the "largest 4G network," while Sprint and Verizon also made "4G" part of marketing for their respective Mobile WiMax and LTE networks. Apparently the ITU was just kidding, as they've now expanded their definition beyond WiMAX 2 and LTE-Advanced to include the current generations of those technologies: WiMAX 802.16e and LTE. From a release:According to the ITU's new "clarification," you can technically call anything you'd like 4G as long as it offers a nebulous but "substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities" over existing 3G technology. In other words, nothing has technically changed -- the ITU has decided to bend to the whims of the nation's wireless marketing departments; the same marketing departments that were apparently intent on ignoring what the massive, global standards body thought anyway.