4G Wireless Receives Funding Investment

4G Wireless Receives Funding Investment

19th August, 2009

Europe : An investment of 18 Million Euros has been given by the European Commission ( EU ) for research into 4G wireless technology which will immediately boost the progression of 3G LTE and drive the progression to 4G wireless networks. 3G LTE network speeds are projected to be 100 times faster than current 3G networks. The funding will be released in early 2010.

3G LTE has benefited from funding from the EU over the last five years and is just beginning to bring leading edge mobile benefits for use by Europeans. The success of 3G LTE was greatly helped along this EU funding which totaled 25 Million Euros.

Negotiations will start in September this year with 4G wireless experts and industry researchers from 9 European countries.

3G LTE mobile trials are underway in UK, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Germany and Finland with other countries in the pipeline. 3G mobile operators are forecast to spend around 6 Million Euros on 3G LTE equipment over the next 4 years.

"With LTE technologies, Europe's research 'know-how' will continue to set the tone for the development of mobile services and devices around the globe, just as we did in the past decades with the GSM standard," said Viviane Reding, the EU's Commissioner for Telecoms and Media. "LTE technologies will turn mobile phones into powerful mobile computers. Millions of new users will get ultra high-speed internet access on their portable devices, wherever they are. This will create tremendous opportunities and plenty of space for growing the digital economy."

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, revolutionizing Europe's mobile telecoms market.
    *      LTE Advanced will propel mobile broadband speeds up to 1 gigabit (thousand megabits) per second, allowing users on the go to fully benefit from sophisticated 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 ( IP/09/1112 ). 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.

3G Mobile Operator commitments to 3G LTE are listed below :

Country	3G Operator	Anticipated 3G LTE Launch
France	Orange	2011-12
Germany	T-Mobile	2011
Ireland	Hutchison 3	2011
Italy	Telecom Italia	Not known
Spain	Telefonica O2	2011
Sweden	TeliaSonera	2010
Sweden	Tele2 Sweden	2010
Sweden	Telenor Sweden	2010
Various	Vodafone	Not known
Australia	Telstra	Not known
Canada	Telus	2010
Canada	Bell Canada	2010
Canada	Rogers Wireless	2010-11
China	China Mobile	2011
China	China Telecom	2011-12
Hong Kong	SmarTone-Vodafone	Not known
Hong Kong	HK CSL Ltd	Not known
Hong Kong	PCCW	Not known
Japan	NTT DoCoMo	2010
Japan	KDDI	2010
New Zealand	Telecom NZ	2011-12
Norway	TeliaSonera	2010
Philippines	Piltel	Not known
South Korea	SK Telecom	Not known
South Korea	KTF	Not known
USA	Verizon	2010
USA	MetroPCS	2010
USA	CenturyTel	2010
USA	Aircell	2011
USA	Cox	2011
USA	AT&T Mobility	2011