EU will throw $25M to LTE-Advanced research

The European Union has decided to invest $25 million to fund research on LTE-Advanced mobile network technology, which is slated as an upgrade to the first generation of LTE. The move is aimed at returning Europe to its position as a dominant force in wireless technology.

In September the EU will provide more details on how the money will be used and what projects will be funded. Various LTE-A projects are expected to begin in January 2010.

LTE-A is supposed to have download speeds of up to 1 Gigabyte per second, a notable improvement to the first version of LTE that is to support downloads speeds up to 100 Mbps, according to the EU.

In the U.S., Verizon Wireless is aggressively deploying the first version of LTE. The carrier last week completed its first successful LTE data call in Boston using the 3GPP Release 8 standard for the technology, following a similar successful test in Seattle. According to the Associated Press, Verizon said the results of the trial indicate LTE will supply average download speeds of 7 to 12 Mbps.

For more:
- see this PC World article [1]

Related Articles:
Nokia Siemens tests LTE-Advanced technology [2]
Vodafone: No LTE in Europe [3] before 2012
Can you hear my LTE call now? Verizon begins 4G rollout [4]

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