14 DAY TRIAL // Telefonica announced on Friday that it would soon start testing the next generation Long Time Evolution technology in six different countries around the world in its process of moving towards the roll-out of 4G networks. Telefonica is yet another company that plans on deploying the next-generation networks based on the LTE standard, and has already begun selecting the companies that will help it fulfill its goal.
According to the company, it has chosen a series of infrastructure providers for the roll-out of LTE, including Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nokia, Siemens Network and ZTE. These companies will start deploying necessary equipment for the testing of LTE. The tests will be conducted in various locations over the following six months. Telefonica also announced that these tests are aimed at offering it the possibility to put in place its strategy for moving to the fourth generation mobile network.
“At Telefonica we are working with the conviction that we can only offer our clients the maximum levels of quality and innovation. To do this, we are defining our strategy and the rollout of LTE with the objective of driving mobile broadband and offering the best service from the moment that the equipment and terminals can support the new standards and are available for sale,” explained Julio Linares, COO of Telefonica.
The adoption of LTE is aimed at enabling Telefonica to complement its mobile broadband offer. The countries in which the company will be testing the technology are Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Czech Republic in Europe, and Brazil and Argentina in Latin America. Telefonica already demonstrated LTE technology in Madrid back in April, showcasing a “VoIP call, in a videocall using an LTE mini-network installed by Ericsson, in a videoconference, and successive downloads of data and images at transfer speeds in excess of 140 Mbps,” it added.