Europe's operators debunk LTE as solution to network overload

Operators at the Broadband World Forum in Paris debunked the belief that LTE is a solution to overloaded mobile networks.

During a panel discussion at the forum, Deutsche Telekom executive Denis Gautheret said the primary factor limiting LTE's capacity is spectrum. He said the lower frequencies may provide better coverage but capacity is limited. He was primarily talking about the 800 MHz digital dividend band in Europe.

For Telefonica, the focus is on improving indoor penetration of 2.6 GHz spectrum by using femtocells and  smaller cells to increase capacity. "Telefonica is moving toward street level picocells and femtocells... based on this 2.6GHz frequency," said Jaime Lluch Ladron, technology executive at Telefonica.

Vodafone Spain and Elisa in Finland plan to offer premium packages to the enterprise and high-value subscribers to prioritize traffic and offloading the rest.  

For more:
- see this Rethink Wireless article

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