Ericsson has been highlighting its technical capabilities by demonstrating LTE- Advanced and achieving speeds 10 times faster than current LTE systems. The tests, using frequencies provided by Sweden's telecom regulator, took place over a prototype network in Kista, the location of Ericsson's main Swedish research and development offices.
Adopting a confident stance, Ericsson said the LTE-Advanced equipment was based upon commercial hardware compliant with 3GPP Release 10 protocols, and remains confident that commercial deployment could start in Sweden as soon as 2013. That timeframe is in keeping with when executives from rival Nokia Siemens Networks said the LTE-Advanced standards will become commercially viable.
In a statement to FierceWireless:Europe, Ericsson said that LTE-Advanced would most likely be deployed first in city centres and urban areas, although it would also be applicable to providing additional speed and capacity in rural locations.
Commenting on the demonstration, Urban Landmark, head of the regulator's spectrum department, said in a separate statement: "Sweden is in the forefront when it comes to usage of mobile broadband. Sweden was both early with licensing of harmonised spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 800MHz bands, and the first country in the world where LTE was commercially deployed. The demonstration today indicates that mobile broadband technologies continue to evolve rapidly."
For more;
- see this Ericsson release
- see this Telecom Paper article (sub. req.)
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