Optus Reveals Sydney 4G Phone Trial Data
Mobile phone giant Optus has revealed it recorded speeds of over 40 Mbps during its 4G network trial in Sydney.
The trial took place throughout a number of suburbs in Sydney and will now move to a second phase involving more cellphone base stations as well as tests for interaction between the current 2G and 3G Optus mobile phone networks.
Optus is hoping to use the 4G network trials to boost bandwidth for its fast growing smartphone market in Australia.
UK 4G Network Trial in Cornwall
Trials are due to start soon of a new 4G mobile phone network in parts of Cornwall that suffer from poor broadband connectivity. The trials will begin in September this year and will make use of phone frequencies recently freed up by the switch from analogue to digital television services in East Cornwall.
Clear Mobitel says the 4G network test aims to gather information on how to best roll out 4G services to other rural areas of the UK which traditionally have had patchy or non-existent mobile broadband coverage. The trial will involve a mobile phone running Google Android as well as USB wireless cards.
Clear Mobitel already has a license to provide 4G phone services to the island of Jersey.
UK 4G Mobile Phone Network Auction in 2011
The UK government has said the frequency spectrum auction for UK 4G mobile phone networks will happen within a year.
The 4G auction will cover an area of the 2.6GHz band frequency band as well as frequencies currently being used for analogue services which will become vacant after the digital TV switchover.
The UK 4G auction was originally due to happen in 2008.
Telstra Tests 4G Mobile Phone Network in Australia
Australian mobile phone company Telstra has reported mobile download speeds of 100 Mbps over a distance of 75 Kilometers while testing its LTE 4G wireless network in Victoria. The tests are in preparation for a roll out of a full 4G mobile phone network in Australia.
Engineers from Telstra and Nokia Siemens Networks conducted the trials between Mount Hope and Mount Burrumboot in central Victoria using Nokia’s 4G LTE Flexi Multiradio Base Station and Evolved Packet Core (EPC) along with commercial 4G USB dongles from third-party vendors.
Telstra says the test will help it provide 4G mobile services for remote rural locations in Australia.
Germany Prepares for 4G Mobile Phone Networks
Germany’s auction of 4G network spectrum has moved up a notch with mobile phone companies bidding a total €3.73 billion by the time the hammer fell on the auction this week.
Four mobile operators took part in the auction – Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and E-Plus, the German subsidiary of Dutch mobile phone company KPN. The main focus for bidders was the potentially lucrative 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz network bands which are best suited for the new, faster 4G services that operators hope to make money on.
The German 4G auction is expected to raise €6 billion and €8 billion. Other countries in Europe are due to hold their own network auctions between now and the end of next year.
4G Mobile Phone Picks Up Speed in Scandinavia
Mobile phone industry analysts are predicting 4G phone services won’t take off in a big way in Scandinavia until around 2013.
Swedish / Finnish 4G mobile phone operator TeliaSonera estimates that out of 400,000 potential customers in Stockholm and Oslo only around 1000 have so far subscribed to 4G. TeliaSonera is in the process of expanding its 4G network to another 25 cities in Sweden and 5 cities in Norway.
The first 4G phones will only become available this summer and mobile industry analysts say take up will accelerate when services currently available for data modems and wireless cards only are also available on compatible mobile phones.
Denmark 4G – TeliaSonera Wins License
Mobile phone company TeliaSonera has won a license to operate a new 4G mobile phone network in Denmark. The company expects to start offering the new network to customers in the Spring of 2011.
TeliaSonera already has 4G phone networks in Sweden, Norway and Finland and was the first company to offer a full commercial 4G phone network to mobile phone users with the launch of its city networks in Stockholm and Oslo.
The license lasts for twenty years and will provide speeds of around ten times that of 3G.
EC Approves 4G Mobile Broadband for Europe
The European Commission has approved plans that will use the frequency space currently being used by across Europe by analogue television stations for a new pan-Europe 4G mobile phone network.
Individual European member states will be encouraged by the EC to allocate the 800 Mhz frequency band to 4G mobile internet services in an attempt to implement a 4G mobile network that will work anywhere in Europe. Most European countries are already moving from analogue to digital television broadcasts.
According to mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson, mobile broadband usage is expected to rise from 400 million users to 3.5 billion users worldwide by 2015.