It looks like Mobile WiMax won't be the only 4G game in town for too long. Last week Verizon Wireless announced that it will begin planning and developing its next high-speed data network around the Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. Verizon Wireless is owned by both Verizon and Vodafone. Trials are set to begin in 2008.

Next year the nation's No. 2 carrier will work with suppliers, including Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel, and Siemens, to create a trial plan for LTE. "Customers want to be truly untethered with advanced communication devices that provide functionality comparable to today's wired networks--whether it's downloading or uploading video, gaming, downloading their favorite music, or social networking," said Richard Lynch, Verizon Communications' executive vice president and CTO. He also noted that Verizon has a "particular focus on embedded wireless in virtually every piece of electronics you buy in any store."

LTE has long been described as the "evolution of the 3G Mobile System," by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the same group that grants its 3GPP specification to all GSM and W-CDMA networks. Verizon referred to its new data network as a fourth generation (4G) network today.

Back in November 2004, 3GPP held a RAN Evolution Work Shop to brainstorm the development of a "framework for the evolution of the 3GPP radio-access technology towards a high-data-rate, low-latency and packet-optimized radio-access technology," according to the group's Web site. Some requirements for the new standard include data rates as high as 100 Mbps and upload speeds at 50 Mbps. Current 3G speeds are set to 1.8 Mbps for downloads and a paltry 348-Kbps upload speed.

We're excited about Verizon's announcement, but only time will tell when it will actually be implemented into phones and devices and what the real-world throughput will be.
 

Info: http://www.verizonwireless.com