LTE Broadband

High speed broadband has been on the cards for years but unless you’re in a city, 20Mb is something you only see in the adverts.

The reality is that even if we did have 20Mb speeds, they’d be way behind the Japanese who boast standard broadband speeds of 50Mb and planned speeds of 100Mb.

LTE Broadband Explained

LTE stands for Long Term Evolution and it is likely to produce 100Mbps broadband connections. This would allow you to download movie files of 500MB in about 3 minutes – how does that compare to your current download speeds?

As we continue to demand more from the internet, both in terms of capacity and speed, we also demand more of the networks. LTE is their answer to this challenge. LTE will sit alongside the current core architecture of mobile networks, SAE or System Architecture Evolution, and together they will offer network operators significant performance improvements over 3G, possibly two to four times the spectral efficiency of 3G/HSPA networks. This means LTE networks will be able to squeeze more bits of data into the same amount of spectrum as 3G and HSPA networks, which in turn means increased data speeds and/or increased capacity.

LTE technology is the natural successor to 3GPP GSM and WCDMA networks. LTE itself is a new technology which sits alongside OFDM, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex, and antenna technology, MIMO, Multiple Input Multiple Output. OFDM splits the information into multiple narrowband subcarriers, allowing each of them to carry a portion of the information at a lower bit rate, which makes OFDM a very robust modulation, particularly in multipath scenarios, like urban areas. MIMO technology creates several spatial paths on the air interface between the network and the subscriber; so these paths can carry the same or different streams of information.

LTE is the result of ongoing work by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a collaborative group of international standards organizations and mobile-technology companies. 3GPP set out in 1998 to define the key technologies for the third generation of GSM-based mobile networks (3G), and its work has continued to define the ongoing evolution of these networks. Near the end of 2004, discussions on the longer-term evolution of 3G networks began, and a set of high-level requirements for LTE was defined: the networks must transmit data at a reduced cost per bit compared to 3G; they must be able to offer more services at lower transmission cost with better user experience; LTE must have the flexibility to operate in a wide number of frequency bands; it should utilize open interfaces and offer a simplified architecture; and it must have reasonable power demands on mobile terminals. Some operators are expected to test their networks with LTE Broadband capability as soon as late 2009. This is likely to be in either Japan or US. Europe, including the UK, is expected to follow in 2011.

LTE Broadband Providers

People currently signed-up to LTE technology include AT&T, KDDI, France Telecom, Vodafone and T-Mobile. Before you read that list again, you are right that it didn’t include BT. But don’t worry as there are plenty of other UK broadband providers willing to compete with BT, including mobile phone operators so LTE Mobile Broadband should be reality too.

GSMA, who represent 24 of the world’s largest phone operators, have officially endorsed LTE so that will help move things along.

LTE Broadband Availability

The first LTE Broadband network will be tested towards the end of 2009, and roll-out will quickly follow in the US and Japan in 2010. Europe and UK will follow soon after that, so we should see LTE Broadband in the UK in 2010.

Compare LTE Broadband Packages

Coming soon, a full check on all UK LTE Broadband providers, their availability, packages, deals and of course, speed tests.

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