IP Democracy: Verizon Wireless Announces 4G Trials for 2008

Two days after announcing its market-shifting plan to "open" its wireless network, Verizon Wireless announced this morning plans to launch a "4G" network using LTE or long term evolution technology.

LTE is an all-IP based technology aimed at delivering true wireless broadband service, with goals of delivering substantially increased upload and download speeds, improving latency and generally enhancing network efficiency. Verizon and Vodafone, which jointly own Verizon Wireless, plan to launch a coordinated international trial of the technology in 2008 in conjunction with technology and handset suppliers Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia-Siemens, and Nortel.

LTE is a significant upgrade over both carriers' existing 3G services. In the U.S., Verizon Wireless currently offers an increasingly popular EV-DO wireless service that enables broadband connectivity on the run. Around 32 million of Verizon Wireless' 64 million customers had EV-DO-enabled devices at the end of September, although not all may actually purchase the add-on broadband option.

Vodafone offers 3G service based on a different standard, called HSPA. At the end of September, Vodafone had 21.4 million 3G "registered devices."

Verizon Wireless contends that the open policy announced two days ago will apply to this next-generation network. Even better, execs say, is that the current incompatiblity between GSM-based phones, such as the iPhone offered by AT&T, and Verizon's CDMA-based network, will be moot under an LTE network, which is an iteration of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard.

Although it's not clear exactly what throughputs will actually be delivered once the networks are operational, it is clear that 4G mobile technology takes everybody one step closer to a world where video, gaming and other bandwidth-intensive application are easily offered on mobile devices. Current 3G or 2.5G technology, including Verizon's EV-DO service, is barely capable of delivering even half-way decent broadband Internet connectivity, even though it's state-of-the-art. Let's hope this LTE option will actually allow truly fast downloads and mobile video viewing.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on November 29, 2007 8:34 AM to IP Democracy