Rogers Starts LTE Trials in Canada

Canadian wireless carrier Rogers Communications Inc. went official with plans to deploy a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in Canada in the near future, and announced the kick off of a comprehensive LTE trial with Ericsson in the Ottawa area.

It's a common fact that LTE is a fourth generation (4G) wireless technology able to offer impressive data transfer speeds when compared to older technologies.

On LTE, users can enjoy fast HD video streaming, gaming, communications, transactions, as well as other experiences available on the mobile Internet.

The technology can offer support for more data transfers than before, with speeds that top 150 Mbps.

“Our customers increasingly want anywhere, anytime access to information, communications, entertainment and transactional experiences on their device of choice,” said Nadir Mohamed, President and Chief Executive Officer, Rogers Communications Inc.

“LTE is the next generation platform delivering superior mobile speed and functionality similar to what Canadians currently experience at home and at work.

“This technical trial is significant because it builds on our industry-leading networks and it sets the groundwork for our customers to do even more in the future."

Rogers has been already conducting LTE lab testing in collaboration with Ericsson, at the latter's Ottawa Research and Development facility.

According to the wireless carrier, it compared the performance of LTE technology on various frequencies. Further testing is planned, expanding the research to the technical trial of LTE on low and high band frequencies.

“Through this trial we will validate how LTE technology will perform in real world situations across a variety of spectrum frequencies in urban, suburban, and rural environments,” said Bob Berner, EVP, Network and Chief Technology Officer, Rogers Communications Inc.

“Furthermore, we will verify LTE data throughput speeds, performance quality, and interoperability of LTE with our existing advanced HSPA+ network ensuring that future commercial deployment enables the best customer experience.”

The trial would be made on the recently auctioned AWS spectrum, but Rogers also plans the licensing of 700 MHz spectrum for the trial.