4G inches closer with Nokia Siemens tests

The fourth generation of mobile broadband has moved closer to reality, following fresh trials by Nokia Siemens Networks.
Nokia Siemens Networks' tests, announced last week, involved Long Term Evolution (LTE), a potential successor to 3G. Offering theoretical data rates of up to 173 megabits per second, <cnet:blog id="9826437">LTE is in something of a race</cnet:blog>to market with mobile WiMax, which only promises around 70Mbps but hasa significant head start. The fastest currently available mobilebroadband, HSDPA, offers around 7.2Mbps.
Both LTE and mobile WiMaxuse the OFDM modulation scheme and multiple-input multiple-output(Mimo) technology, which is based on the use of multiple antennae.Mobile WiMax's recent inclusion to the 3GPP family of standards hasraised the possibility of both technologies becoming part of what willbe known as 4G.
In its announcement, Nokia Siemens Networks said it hadcompleted the world's first multiuser field trial of LTE in an urbanenvironment. The trial, which was in Berlin, utilized 20MHz ofbandwidth in the 2.6GHz spectrum, which is set for a hotly contestedauction in the U.K. next year.
"(The trial confirmed) that LTE performance requirements can bemet using 3GPP standardized technologies and it realized data rates ofmore than 100Mbps over distances of several hundred meters, whilemaintaining excellent throughput at the edge of typical urban mobileradio cells," the company's statement read.
4G (also known as beyond 3G), an acronym for Fourth-Generation Communications System,is a term used to describe the next step in wireless communications. A4G system will be able to provide a comprehensive IP solution wherevoice, data and streamed multimedia can be given to users on an"Anytime, Anywhere" basis, and at higher data rates than previousgenerations. There is no formal definition for what 4G is; however,there are certain objectives that are projected for 4G.

Calling the trial an "important initial proof of concept forLTE," Nokia Siemens Networks' chief technology officer, Stephan Scholz,said that LTE would further the company's goal of connecting 5 billionusers by 2015, due to LTE's efficient use of spectrum.
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"We can demonstrate that LTE meets the high expectations set forthis new technology," said Matthias Reiss, head of LTE at Nokia SiemensNetworks. "Most importantly, we now have evidence that future LTEnetworks can run on existing base station sites and mobile operatorscan build LTE networks without requiring new antenna sites."
U.K. telecommunications regulator Ofcom announced the keenlyanticipated auction of the 2010-2025MHz and 2500-2690MHz bands onWednesday. The auctions will take place in mid-2008, and the deadlinefor applications by mobile operators is January 16. It is expected thatthe use of these bands will pave the way for a multitude of new mobilebroadband services.
Although it is theoretically slower than LTE, mobile WiMax hasthe advantage of currently being in existence, albeit in just a fewproducts. Fixed WiMax, which is in some cases upgradeable to mobileWiMax, is available as a commercial service in some parts of the U.K.today.