The new technology could be used starting with 2010

Aug 21, 2007 08:35 GMT  ·  By

Experiments for a future 4G technology deployment have been taking place over the past weeks. Still, an official definition is expected for released only in the next two years.

NTT DoCoMo has started work on a Super 3G network, one capable of performances situated just under the 4G borderline. Their technology is meant to make the transition as smooth and simple as possible, aiming towards 3.9G. This means data transfer speeds of up to 300 Mbps over a high-speed wireless network, a huge expectation. If they succeed in making this possible, one more small step towards 4G should be a piece of cake, although it will surely take some time until it will be deployed.

The primary 4G technologies of the future are expected to be Long Term Evolution (LTE), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), and IEEE 802.16m WiMAX, reports In-Stat, a high-tech market research firm. Other analysis results show that the 4G technologies have high chances of being OFDMA-based and manage to support 100Mbps for wide area mobile applications.

"Companies are extremely uncomfortable talking about '4G' technologies, since the ITU has not defined 4G yet", says Gemma Tedesco, In-Stat analyst. "However, each of the contending 4G technologies has a cheerleader, with Ericsson touting LTE, Qualcomm preferring UMB, and Intel touting 802.16m WiMAX", Gemma Tedesco further added.

A large number of mobile phone producers have joined the LSTI community in order to actively get involved in the struggle to develop new and efficient solutions for reaching 4G performances. Their efforts are bound to bring results only in time, as part of a gradual implementation.

Mobile operators will rely mostly on EV-DO and HSDPA in the slow development phase, although handsets using this technology will be dominant only starting with 2012. The 4G technology has high chances of being launched at the same time, in 2010-2012, In-Stat research shows.