Nokia Tests on New Mobile Broadband Standard Crack 100 Mbps

Nokia announced today that the LSTI (LTE/SAE Trial Initiative) had achieved a 100 megabits-per-second data transfer speed in recent tests.

LTE/SAE is an evolved version of today's mobile phone radio access technology designed for faster data transfer with a simplified architecture, using new transmission schemes and advanced antenna technology. Initial deployment configurations are specified to have downlink rates above 100 Mbps and uplink rates above 50 Mbps.

The initiative, launched in May by telecommunications companies Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, France Telecom/Orange, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, T-Mobile and Vodafone, seeks to prove to the 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) the potential of LTE/SAE as a new standard. To do this, the project has to go through three phases: proof of concept, interoperability, and trial.

So far, the group has confirmed that the LTE physical layer can meet both stationary and mobile performance targets. Tests were performed using common transmission profiles and single in, multi out (SIMO) antenna systems in the lab setting as well as in urban field locations.

While WCDMA has been seen as the next-generation broadband wireless standard by some, that claim is not universally perceived as an entitlement. A recent study by Ericsson (PDF available here) shows tests on LTE achieved roughly the same throughput speeds as WCDMA, but with less noise and data loss even as uplink and downlink speeds increase.

Testing and reporting of ongoing results will continue until late 2009, with deployment aimed at 2010.