By the end of 2008, Nokia expects to deliver the new Long Term Evolution (LTE)-ready hardware to more than 10 mobile operators in Europe, Asia and North America.
According to the company, the flexi base station hardware is a milestone towards LTE technology which is the next step in mobile network evolution for both the GSM/WCDMA/HSPA and CDMA operators. The company claims that LTE networks will enable the user to browse, email, video sharing and music downloads.
Matthias Reiss, head of LTE Radio of Nokia Siemens Networks, said: LTE promises an exciting and radical transformation of the wireless experience with rich and fast multimedia services of incredible quality. And with the start of this LTE-compatible hardware, Nokia Siemens Networks promises its customers the smoothest migration to LTE possible. With only a software upgrade needed, the evolution to LTE radio network cannot be easier than this.
In parallel with the ongoing first shipments of LTE compatible hardware, Nokia is working with operators worldwide to conduct LTE trials in operators’ live network environment. With these trials, the company is gaining experience on the LTE air interface performance in the field and receives feedback on end user experience with this high performance technology. Nokia uses the results of these trials to ensure its products and solutions and planning processes are fully optimised for commercial network rollouts, expected to start in 2010.
