14 DAY TRIAL // Wireless carrier Telefonica announced recently that it had selected Nokia Siemens Networks as a partner for an LTE (Long Term Evolution) trial it planned on making in the Czech Republic. According to the company, during the six-month trial, which is part of its series of LTE trials conducted in Europe and Latin America, Nokia Siemens Networks will show end-to-end LTE solutions aimed at enabling carriers to deliver a brand-new mobile experience to their customers.
“We expect this trial with Telefonica to demonstrate the potential for our LTE to deliver an entirely new broadband mobile experience. We are one of the main partners for Telefonica in the deployment of mobile radio networks around the world.” Carlos Reines, head of the corporate Customer Business Team for Telefonica at Nokia Siemens Networks, said. “We have a long and successful track record of collaboration in the Czech Republic and have provided 2G and 3G technology for Telefonica CZ,” he also added.
The two companies also announced that they had been long focused on the development of LTE solutions. Back in November 2008, Telefonica and Nokia Siemens Networks pioneered the LTE technology development through making the first live LTE call to a WCDMA mobile device from Telefonica. Morever, they also added that, during an event in London, they demonstrated successfully the usage of high data rate applications, including downloads, online gaming, or HD video streaming.
The LTE technology is expected to greatly leverage the experience of users when it comes to data applications. The 4G standard offers faster response times, as well as reduced latencies and transfer rates of up to 173/58 Mbps (downlink/uplink). Moreover, the technology comes with support for mobile broadband access for apps like emails, video-sharing, music downloads, Internet browsing and others more.
The LTE end-to-end solution from Nokia Siemens Networks is based on the Evolved Packet Core and the Flexi Base Station, a solution that is already being deployed, and that does not need anything more than a software upgrade from 2G/3G to LTE. The infrastructure-solution provider also noted that it managed to complete the first LTE call on a commercial base station and the standard compliant software in September 2009, while, in October 2009, it managed to conduct the first LTE handover test in the world.