Independence day
Any doubt about the 4G mobile standard favoured by Europe was erased today, with the announcement today by Finnish handset maker Nokia that it is trialling its first ever LTE (Long Term Evolution) modem.
The most publicised alternative 4G technology is WiMAX, which has chip giant Intel as its primary cheerleader. Intel is very keen to become the force in mobile phone that it already is in PCs, which is why it has formed alliances with, among others, erm Nokia.
Nokia itself will be very keen to reduce its dependence on third parties for modems. It only recently settled a long-running dispute with Qualcomm, which currently dominates the market for 3G modems.
There have also been reports that the EC is considering resurrecting an antitrust investigation into Qualcomm, despite the settlement. Samsung has also recently announced an LTE modem of its own.
The Nokia Internet Modem RD-3 is available to be used in LTE technology development. It supports interoperability with GSM/EDGE and WCDMA/HSPA as well as multiple LTE frequencies. LTE describes the evolution of WCDMA/HSPA radio networks, which promises much higher data rates and overall performance.
"Nokia is committed to supporting industry activities aimed at maturing LTE technology to enable the first commercial networks to launch in 2010," said Jani Mäenpää, project manager for LTE/SAE interoperability and trials at Nokia.
