Following on successful LTE trials in Finland (which broke downlink speeds of 173MBps recently), the 3GPP has approved the final set of specifications for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) data standard. LTE’s approval by the 3GPP puts the next-gen (4G) mobile broadband standard on track for its commercial roll-out in 2010.
As the evolution of HSPA networks, LTE will use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology, the same protocol used in other technologies such as UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband) and mobile WiMAX.
Verizon wireless can now be assured of peak downstream speeds of 326Mbps and peak uplink speeds of 86Mbps, with each side requiring 20Mhz swath of spectrum. Round-trip latency of data packets (the time it take to request data and then recieve it) has been reduced to a mere 10ms.
Where’s AT&T in all this LTE-business? Come one, if the nation’s largest CDMA (EVDO) network embraces LTE, surely AT&T will be upgrading its GSM-based HSDPA network to LTE. Let’s just make it nice and official, AT&T – okay?
[Via: MobileTechNews]