Europe : The LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI) has completed a second round of LTE tests which show that the technology is on track to bring super-fast wireless broadband capabilities to the mass market. LSTI, which consists of companies from across the global telecom industry, has verified that LTE is capable of achieving the high speed downloads and fast network response times necessary to give a true broadband experience on mobile devices.

"Mobility is no longer just about being able to call somebody on their cell phone. People today want anywhere, anytime access to information, entertainment, and a broad range of communications," said Pekka Sarlund, vice president of wireless modems, Nokia, LSTI Member. "As this 'always connected' lifestyle becomes more popular and mobile applications become more advanced, it will drive an overall increase in network data traffic. Eventually, existing mobile technologies will reach their limits. In order to meet increased bandwidth demands in a cost-effective manner, networks need to evolve; they need to be faster and more efficient. LSTI is producing tangible test results proving that LTE can do all this."

LSTI is accelerating the availability of interoperable next generation LTE mobile broadband systems. The group continues to gain momentum and solidify the LTE ecosystem with more than 17 active participants in total, including telecom equipment innovators and some of the world's leading network operators. This unique global initiative is able to drive the seamless introduction of end to end LTE solutions - including infrastructure, devices, chipsets etc. - through collaborative technology trials and proof of concept work.

The latest laboratory and early field tests on prototype LTE systems have confirmed that baseline devices can achieve download speeds exceeding 100 Mbps, and high performance systems using 4x4 MIMO antennas can push this to beyond 300Mbps. LSTI members have also demonstrated substantial improvements to network response times, which are essential to give the 'always on' experience and for latency-sensitive applications such as interactive gaming and mobile television. This data is for isolated cells with a single user.

"These latest test results show that LTE development is striding confidently forward, with prototype systems comfortably meeting the performance targets set out by the 3GPP standards," said Doug Wolff, general manager of LTE, Nortel, LSTI Member. "The next steps for will be early device interoperability testing, network interoperability tests, more comprehensive performance tests as the end-to-end systems continue to mature, and finally actual field trials in operator networks."