EU to Invest Millions in LTE
As of 2010, the EU will invest EUR 18 million into research that will underpin next generation 4G mobile networks.
The European Commission just decided to start the process of funding research on Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced technology, which will offer mobile internet speeds up to a hundred times faster than current 3G networks.
LTE is becoming the industry’s first choice for next generation mobile networks, partly due to substantial EU research funding since 2004. 25 years ago, Europe made the GSM standard the backbone of mobile telephony. Based on Europe’s joint research and the strength of the EU’s single market, the GSM standard is today used by 80 per cent of the world’s mobile networks. The Commission hopes that LTE will be a similar success.
LTE is the latest wireless technology, providing mobile internet speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, ten times faster than 3G mobile networks. In Europe, it is currently being trialled by mobile operators in Finland, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK and is expected to be commercially available in Sweden and Norway in the first half of 2010.
Between 2004 and 2007, the EU supported research on optimization and standardization of LTE (the WINNER I and II projects, run by a consortium of 41 leading European companies and universities). This led to the development of the first concept for a LTE-based network infrastructure.
Last month, the European Commission decided to start investing EUR 18 million into research on the enhanced version of LTE, dubbed LTE Advanced. In September, the Commission will start to negotiate the details with project consortia, including the flagship ARTIST4G that builds on the achievements of the WINNER projects and unites 4G industry and researchers from Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The new projects are expected to start in January 2010.
The European Commission sees strong potential in the deployment of LTE and LTE Advanced technology:
- LTE will boost the capacities of network operators, enabling them to provide faster mobile broadband to more users at lower prices.
- LTE Advanced will propel mobile broadband speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second, allowing users on the go to fully benefit from online services such as high quality TV or video on demand.
- LTE uses radio spectrum more efficiently, enabling mobile networks to benefit from the “digital dividend” and use the frequencies freed by the switchover from analogue to digital TV. Signals will travel further than with current GSM technology and reduce the number of antenna sites needed to achieve the same network coverage, preserving Europe’s landscapes and reducing energy consumption.
- LTE could bring mobile broadband to less populated regions and contribute to the reduction of the “digital divide” between rural and urban areas. In late 2008, 23 per cent of the population in rural areas of the EU still could not subscribe to a DSL internet connection.
Leading mobile operators and manufacturers around the world such as Orange, TeliaSonera, T-Mobile, AT&T, NTT-DoCoMo, Verizon, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks have already committed to using the LTE standard. By 2013, operators worldwide are expected to invest nearly EUR 6 billion (USD 8.6 billion) in LTE equipment, according to market analysts.
Read the full press release.
Related: EU frees new spectrum for new and faster mobile services.
Source: EC
