Telefónica Beginning LTE Tests Across the Globe

While some carriers are busy getting their HSPA+ groove on, pretty much everyone is getting ready for the 4G jump. One of the world’s biggest service providers, Telefónica, has begun their LTE testing in the UK and Germany (through O2 (NYSE: TEF)), Czech Republic (Czech Telecom), Brazil (Vivo), Spain and Argentina (Movistar). Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nokia (NYSE: NOK)-Siemens and ZTE are all partnering with Telefónica to build the infrastructure in all of these areas.  Their latest tests have yielded data download speeds in the neighbourhood of 140 Mbps – not too shabby at all, but under ideal conditions, Telefónica is hoping to hit the 340 Mbps mark.

[Telefónica via Unwired View]