AT&T won’t launch a network for 4G phones until 2011. AT&T’s SVP of architecture and planning, Kris Rinne, says the phone network will test 4G in 2010 and will work to ensure that current 3G phones will be backwards compatible.

Once testing is complete, AT&T will launch its LTE network on its 700 MHz – which covers 200 major US markets or around 87% of the population.

UPDATE: AT&T now has a 4G phone network and has launched the its first 4G phone HTC Inspire.