LTE/SAE Super-fast Mobile Delivers in Tests, but Deployment Poses Questions

LTE/SAE Super-fast Mobile Delivers in Tests, but Deployment Poses Questions

The mobile technology expected to provide a generous boost to data transfer rates, according to reports, is working as planned. However, the report is nevertheless apprehensive about the speed and performance it will actually provide when it is launched in 2010.

LTE (Long Term Evolution) or SAE (System Architecture Evolution) technology has the backing of the 3GPP (Third-Generation Partnership Project) and major mobile solutions developers, including Ericsson, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, T-Mobile, and Vodafone.

The LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI) — founded by leading telecommunications companies Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, France Telecom/Orange, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, T-Mobile, and Vodafone — confirmed the new technology met targets for physical layer throughput to both stationary and moving users.

In addition, expected peak data rates were achieved in tests with both single-antenna and multiple-antenna radios in lab and urban field settings. LSTI says the peak data rate for LTE in initial deployments is 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream.

According to Yankee Group analyst Phil Marshall, the speed is for one channel, which would be shared by many users in a given area. He also believes that a real user would get anywhere between 2 Mbps and 10 Mbps, or faster than typical home broadband in the U.S. today. At present, 3G usually runs below 1 Mbps.

Marshall also pointed out that there are several hurdles that LTE has to cross: “First, most carriers will need new radio spectrum to carry LTE services. At present, 3G uses about 5MHz of spectrum for communication from the base station to the handset and 5MHz the other direction, while LTE will need about twice that much to deliver the promised speeds.”

He also indicated that the wireless link between the handset and base station doesn’t go all the way to the Internet, he added, “In between is the carrier’s backhaul connection, which today often consists of one or more T1 leased lines at 1.5 Mbps each. Without upgrades, backhaul could create a bottleneck.”

The LSTI says China Mobile, Huawei, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung, Signalion, Telecom Italia, and ZTE have recently joined as new members.