“Our LTE rollout plan positions Verizon Wireless to be a global leader in 4G LTE deployment. We are on track to deliver an outstanding wireless data experience to customers in 25 to 30 markets covering roughly 100 million people by year’s end,” said Tony Melone, senior vice president and chief technical officer at Verizon Wireless. “As device makers, manufacturers and others around the world begin to introduce newer and faster products to take advantage of these incredible new speeds, Verizon Wireless will be positioned to offer our customers new and exciting products on the nation’s first 4G LTE network.”

Verizon Wireless is currently installing LTE equipment at existing cell sites and switching centers around the United States as part of its extensive, ongoing investment in its voice and data network infrastructure.

Measuring 420mm width, 230mm height, 130mm depth it is the industry’s smallest base station. It weighs 12kg, a light weight to carry, and with the removal of cooling fans consumes 75 per cent less power compared to NEC’s existing W-CDMA product range. The new product is SON-managed (Self Organizing Network), enabling efficient, easier and faster deployment and operation of LTE at a much lower cost than previous 2G and 3G deployments.

NEC will attend the Mobile World Congress 2010 (MWC 2010), a premier industry event held in Barcelona, Spain, on 15 – 18 February 2010, at Booth 8A125 (Hall 8).

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“LTE networks are capable of offering rich content and amazing features, but only if coverage is consistent and provides reliable multi-megabit-per-second speeds for all consumers,” said Junichi Jinno, Executive Officer & General Manager of Kyocera’s Corporate R&D Group for Equipment and Systems. “Kyocera’s micro and macro base stations are the industry’s best, most cost-efficient tools for operators to implement and fine-tune a network that delivers on this promise.”

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“LTE is the super-fast mobile broadband technology that we are able to deliver today. It helps operators address the challenge of growing data traffic as well as delivering a superior end-user experience,” said Marc Rouanne, head of Network Systems, Nokia Siemens Networks. “We’re driving the introduction of LTE through our collaboration with leading device vendors, such as LG ,and by providing a smooth and cost-efficient transition path to LTE via a software upgrade only.”

The data call was made as part of extended interoperability tests conducted by Nokia Siemens Networks and LG in the 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz frequency bands at Nokia Siemens Networks’ LTE R&D centers in Oulu, Finland, and Ulm, Germany.

Nokia Siemens Networks and LG continue to work on testing LTE in other frequency bands and to improve performance. In addition to initiatives at its R&D centers, Nokia Siemens Networks has deployed a number of LG’s terminals in its live over-the-air field test network in the Espoo area of Finland, using real-life mobility scenarios. In addition, LG’s terminals will be used in live trials with Nokia Siemens Networks’ customers.

“Qualcomm leads the industry in enabling next-generation mobile experiences with highly integrated, powerful and elegant solutions for dual-carrier HSPA+ and LTE. We are pleased to be working with so many industry leaders to bring these advanced technologies to market,” said Alex Katouzian, vice president of product management, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “We remain committed to CDMA and OFDMA WAN modem leadership and the seamless and cost-effective commercialization of next-generation technologies around the world.”

Qualcomm is working with numerous network operators, infrastructure vendors and device manufacturers with its dual-carrier HSPA+ and/or LTE solutions. Among multiple network operators evaluating the new technologies are Japan’s EMOBILE Ltd. and Telstra Wireless. Qualcomm is also working with multiple infrastructure vendors, such as Huawei Technologies and Nokia Siemens Networks, to perform interoperability tests for dual-carrier HSPA+ and LTE. Among the many device manufacturers currently evaluating the new chipsets are Huawei, LG Electronics, Novatel Wireless, Sierra Wireless and ZTE.

Qualcomm’s MDM8220 dual-carrier HSPA+ solution, based on the 3GPP Release 8 standard, provides peak downlink data rates of up to 42 megabits per second (Mbps) and 11 Mbps on the uplink, allowing carriers to easily upgrade their existing infrastructure equipment to achieve significantly higher bandwidths. Its dual-carrier technology doubles networks’ bandwidth from 5 MHz to 10 MHz by aggregating two HSPA carriers in parallel.

The MDM9200 and the MDM9600 chipsets are the industry’s first multi-mode 3G/LTE solutions that allow UMTS and CDMA2000® operators to upgrade seamlessly to future LTE services while preserving backward compatibility to their existing 3G networks. MDM9200 supports UMTS, HSPA+ and LTE, while the MDM9600 supports CDMA2000® 1X, EV-DO Rev. B, SV-DO, SV-LTE, UMTS, HSPA+ and LTE. All of the new chipsets support FDD LTE and TDD LTE modes and different carrier bandwidths, and are capable of using orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology to support peak data rates of up to 100 Mbps on the downlink and 50 Mbps on the uplink.

The above telecommunications industry leaders have jointly developed a technical profile for LTE voice and SMS services, also known as the One Voice initiative. The profile defines an optimal set of existing 3GPP-specified functionalities that all industry stakeholders, including network vendors, service providers and handset manufacturers, can use to offer compatible LTE voice solutions.

By following the jointly defined technical profile, the industry can help guarantee international roaming and interoperability for LTE voice and SMS services, ensuring subscribers continuity of these vital services – all while offering service providers a smooth and well-defined path to LTE.

The four companies have completed the development of an LTE-PF chipset engineering sample and are now evaluating its main functions. The sample will be exhibited at the NTT Group stand at ITU Telecom World 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland from October 5 to 9 and the DOCOMO stand at CEATEC JAPAN 2009 at Makuhari Messe, Chiba Prefecture, Japan from October 6 to 10.

“Nokia is committed to supporting industry activities aimed at maturing LTE technology to enable the first commercial networks to launch in 2010,” says Jani Mäenpää, Project Manager, LTE/SAE Interoperability and Trials, Nokia. “Nokia is a founding member in the LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI) and carries out interoperability testing with a number of network vendors, collaborates with measurement equipment manufacturers and is ready to support operators with their LTE deployment activities. The Nokia Internet Modem RD-3 is used in all these activities.”

The Nokia Internet Modem RD-3 supports interoperability with GSM/EDGE and WCDMA/HSPA to make the most out of the global GSM and WCDMA reach right from the start. The Nokia Internet Modem RD-3 also supports multiple LTE frequency bands so is able to meet operators’ deployment plans across many different countries and regions.

The site will be part of a commercial network scheduled to go live in 2010, providing the ultra-high data speeds needed for services such as internet TV, mobile video blogging, on-line video games and the mobile office environment.

Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio at Ericsson, says: “The unveiling of this site shows that LTE is no longer the story of the future; it is the story of today. Ericsson, as a leader in LTE development, is proud to work with TeliaSonera to bring a commercial LTE network to life.”

Other than the LTE network, the companies has also signed an agreement for a mobile advertising solution. The Personal Pod Advertising service, part of Ericsson’s Mobile TV solution, allow advertisements to be sent out as podcasts overnight when traffic is low. The solution offers significant benefits for both operators, who earn revenue on ads sent out, and for retail companies, which can track consumer behavior and interact with specific target groups.