Ericsson Australia to take lead role in future mobile network deployments

Stuart Corner
Monday, 14 July 2008 06:34

Business IT - Networking

In preparation for the introduction of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of mobile technology into carrier networks Ericsson is to open, in Melbourne, its first centre dedicated to bridging the gap between R&D and deployment of the new technologies in carrier networks worldwide.

According to Ericsson the centre, to be located in its facility in Melbourne's Docklands, "will be engaged in activities such as research and development, system trials and testing, and the development of engineering guidelines, tools and processes for the introduction and operation of LTE networks."

Bill Zikou, CEO of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, said: "Ericsson is investing significantly to secure leadership in this area. The LTE Global Competence Centre will play a critical role in driving LTE development and places Australia at the forefront of advances in wireless broadband technology. Furthermore, the establishment of the facility is recognition of the world-class skills of the Australian IT industry."

However, Telstra's world-leading role in the deployment of a cutting edge 3G technology in its Next G network, supplied by Ericsson, almost certainly played a significant role in Australia being chosen to host the new centre."

Ericsson expects LTE to be commercially available in the second half of 2009. "LTE is a natural extension of existing GSM/WCDMA/HSPA networks and enables peak download speeds of at least 100Mbps and upload speeds of 50Mbps... Ericsson has already demonstrated LTE at data rates of 160Mbps," the company said.

According to Zikou "LTE can be described as the first true global standard in mobile network technology. It is supported by the largest telecommunication operators around the world and we expect that around 85 percent of the world's carriers will eventually adopt LTE."

3GPPP, the global cellular standards body, finalised the air interface for LTE in January this year. It claimed that 3GPP LTE would be capable of operating globally in a wide range of channel bandwidths from 1.4 - 20MHz, using both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) modes of operation thus, "offering the flexibility to suit any operator's existing or future frequency allocation globally."
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